Lagström & Ek Österberg (2025)

Exploring Sustainable Public Procurement Through Public Financial Management (Financial Accountability & Management

Lagström & Ek Österberg (2025), Financial Accountability & Management

Lagström and Ek Österberg (2025) explore how Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) functions in practice when viewed through the lens of public financial management — that is, how procurement interacts with budgeting, financial governance, and policy-making. The study shows that while the connection between sustainability objectives and procurement is clearly defined in legislation and policy documents, the real challenge lies in how these goals are interpreted, prioritised, and translated into operational decisions.

Using the concept of regulatory conversations, the authors analyse how dialogues, interpretations, and value judgements shape the implementation of sustainability requirements. It is within these conversations — between authorities, policymakers, finance departments, procurement teams, and external stakeholders — that the role of procurement in driving sustainable development is formed. The study demonstrates that trade-offs between cost, risk, environmental impact, social goals, and financial constraints are rarely purely technical matters but are instead communicative processes in which actors collectively define what sustainable procurement should mean in practice.

Research Summary

The central insight from the article is that sustainable procurement cannot be reduced to requirement lists or legal phrasing — its effectiveness depends on how well procurement is integrated into the organisation's broader governance systems.

Lagström & Ek Österberg highlight two key phenomena:

1. Clear "first-order links" between sustainability objectives and procurement:
   Policies and legislation establish strong formal connections between what should be achieved and how procurement is expected to contribute.

2. "Second-order discussions" when goals are operationalised:
   As sustainability objectives meet budgets, resource limitations, and competing organisational priorities, new tensions and interpretations emerge.
   This is where sustainability ambitions are challenged, clarified, or reshaped in practice.

The study contributes valuable insights by showing that sustainable public procurement is a continuous process of negotiation and dialogue. Through the lens of regulatory conversations, the authors show how public organisations gradually develop their understanding of value, responsibility, and sustainability.

Our Perspective

At WMB Consulting, we see every day that sustainable procurement creates meaningful impact when it is anchored in governance, not just intention. The research by Lagström & Ek Österberg reinforces several of the patterns we observe in both public and private-sector engagements.

Sustainability becomes actionable only when it is embedded in governance structures, financial frameworks, and systematic follow-up. Without this foundation, sustainability ambitions risk remaining policy statements with limited impact in the supply chain. High-performing organisations treat procurement as a cross-functional dialogue rather than a documentation exercise, where finance, procurement, strategy, sustainability, and suppliers align on shared goals. This enables a shift from static requirement lists to value creation through measurable outcomes, KPIs, and continuous performance monitoring. Ultimately, it is this move from administrative compliance to value-driven governance that delivers real sustainability impact.