As one of the largest metropolitan municipalities in South Africa, the city of Tshwane delivers services to approximately 3.5 million inhabitants. Ever since the city launched the Tshwane Vision 2055 , a roadmap to make the city more liveable, resilient and inclusive, the local government has embarked on a journey to leverage its procurement power to meet those strategic goals.

In the absence of a coherent policy framework on sustainable public procurement at the National Level, Tshwane decided to take a lead and develop its own policy framework on the matter. The Tshwane Sustainable Public Procurement Strategy, which was adopted in March 2017, seeks to support three strategic objectives:
1. Developing and stimulating a domestic market for more sustainable goods and services;
2. Supporting resource-efficiency across economic sectors;
3. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions

The research undertaken by the City’s Sustainability Unit has identified key areas for the implementation of the strategy over the coming years. As the city Tshwane suffers from a reliance on imports and the difficulty of the local population to access employment on fair terms, a sustainable public procurement practice is seen as key in the following areas: 

• Local procurement / localisation of public purchases
• Support for small, medium and micro enterprises
• Preferential procurement and broad-based black economic empowerment
• Recycling economy
• Ethical procurement (human rights, labour practices and fair operating practices)

In Tshwane, procurement activities are decentralised, run by the various departments of the city. For all contracts worth over R 500,000 City publishes calls for tender on its online procurement platform and three local newspapers. The City’s Supply Chain Management Policy, available on the platform, guides the assessment of tenders with a clear focus on social inclusion. A Human Development Index (HDI) scoring system is notably used for all tenders, promoting the selection of suppliers who traditionally face barriers in accessing public contracts (people excluded from electoral system under Apartheid laws up to 1993 (women, young people, disabled people, small businesses owners etc.). The legal basis for this policy is rooted in the Preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act 2000.

The Sustainable Procurement Strategy additionally encourages procurers to systematically include green requirements in all tenders. As a general guideline, procurers are encouraged to set out green requirements in tenders as pass/fail minimum criteria. Strong preference is given to selecting suppliers who have achieved environmental certifications or adopted a robust environmental management strategy.