The International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITC- ILO) in partnership with the University of Turin (Faculties of Law and Economics) & UNCITRAL (UN Commission on International Trade Law) offers this Master in Public Procurement Management for Sustainable Development that explores the legislative, regulatory, organizational and managerial foundations of a modern Public Procurement System. The programme is designed as a blended learning opportunity that combines policy/theory prescriptions with applied assignments and research work. It provides participants with direct access to expertise from academia, international organizations, think tanks and the private sector. It prepares them for a range of executive and managerial functions connected with public procurement management and its supervision.
Over the past decades sound public procurement management has become a key milestone of good governance and national progress. Its significance for social and economic development is reflected in the fact that it constitutes a sizeable proportion of the national economy (15 to 30 per cent of national GDP). It is a valuable instrument for the promotion of environmental protection and “pro-social equity” policies and has, historically, been used by governments to encourage more equitable economic growth. More recently, with the onset of “climate change”, relentless advance of globalization and the increased role of the private sector in governance, public procurement has emerged as an important market-based incentive for promoting Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Through public procurement, governments can “raise the bar” for the respect of labour and environmental standards by all market operators, thereby improving the “quality of jobs” and facilitating the achievement of national sustainable development goals. Hence the term “sustainable procurement”
Public procurement has evolved from a simple routine clerical function conducted within an isolated department of a ministry into a key function of the government’s “corporate management”. Today’s procurement professionals have to deal with increasingly dynamic markets, rapidly evolving technologies and ever-more complex legal and contractual frameworks. In addition to compliance with prescribed regulatory obligations, procurement practitioners also have to demonstrate their governments’ adherence to international agreements in human rights, labour and the environment as well as mitigation of corruption. Reconciling the tension between the aforementioned sustainability objectives and the framework of international trade agreements, while respecting the primary obligations of “best value for money”, transparency and accountability, requires an array of new competencies in procurement.
This program carefully interweaves all these knowledge areas and corresponding application competencies throughout the procurement process for goods, works and services.