Public Procurement Law, Sustainable Goals and Human Trafficking

Dr Miriam Mbah joined the Open University as a Lecturer in Law in September 2020. She has both an LLM and a PhD in Public Procurement Law.

Public procurement refers to the acquisition of goods, works and services by one or more procuring entity from one or more supplier chosen by the entity to meet the needs of its citizens.  The regulation of public procurement has been the subject of a great deal of attention from policymakers, procuring entities, non-governmental institutions and academics. To date, academics have embraced a traditional approach to procurement research that focuses on core or primary issues such as procurement principles that underpin procurement regulation, procurement methods, qualification of suppliers, award criteria, procurement challenges, remedies and corruption. While the primary issues in procurement continue to be researched, academics and procuring entities have recognised procurement as a principal, functional and valuable tool for influencing outcomes in society. Driven by globalisation, morality and pressure from the relevant stakeholders, governments can and have promoted sustainable goals through public procurement (referred to as sustainable procurement).

Sustainable procurement covers the three pillars of sustainable development: social, economic and environmental.  Social, environmental and economic goals such as the encouragement of SMEs, women-owned businesses, and minority-owned business in bidding for procurement opportunities, human rights, the elevation of unemployment rates and green procurement have been actively promoted in many procurement frameworks & systems such as the United States Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR), the UK Public Contracts Regulations, Australian Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPR) and many member states of the European Union. For example, UK procuring entities regularly promotes com

Regarding the promotion of human rights, my thesis titled: “Addressing Human Trafficking Through Public Procurement: An Examination of US and Australian Federal Procurement Frameworks” argued that governments should adopt adequate provisions in their national public procurement frameworks to address trafficking in their supply chains effectively. The thesis analysed the US FAR and Australian Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPR) to identify and examine provisions that identify, prevent and mitigates the award of contracts to suppliers tainted by trafficking. The thesis also detailed significant limitations in the examined procurement frameworks and recommended several amendments strengthening gaps that exist in the current frameworks.

The overriding objective of the thesis was to encourage governments to do more than publishing statements that it will tackle trafficking within their supply chains. This objective was met as the thesis, and its findings should impact future legislation and policies as the examination of the FAR and CPR should serve as a guide for other countries. However, there has been slow progress in this area as COVID 19 takes centre stage whilst other matters such as trafficking in the supply chain takes the backstage.

While journals are reviewing my trafficking and procurement papers, I am interested in researching other areas of procurement. For example, the promotion of women-owned businesses, minority-owned businesses and effective emergency procurement.