Toward Strategic Public Procurement in Latin America and the Caribbean

This research paper outlines the transition of public procurement from an administrative task to a strategic lever for sustainable development in Latin America and the Caribbean, providing four regional case studies and ten essential ingredients for reform.

• To transform public procurement into a strategic tool for sustainable development, the entire function and process of the public procurer must be redesigned. This effort is being coordinated between Latin American and Caribbean countries and the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) via the Inter-American Network on Government Procurement (INGP).
• The paper identifies four regional best practices where procurement has been used to achieve specific social and economic goals: supporting family agriculture in Paraguay, promoting the triple-impact economy in Argentina, advancing gender equality in Chile, and contracting with micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in the Dominican Republic.
• The document lists 10 key ingredients necessary for strategic public procurement reform for sustainable development: defining public policy priorities first, conducting evidence-based assessments, building capacity for agencies and suppliers, utilizing technology and digitization, establishing an enabling legal framework, ensuring leadership beyond traditional authority, employing interagency and multistakeholder collaboration, treating reform as a continuous learning process, gaining knowledge of supplier offerings, and implementing a communication strategy.

APA

Ruete,, L. C. (2020). Toward Strategic Public Procurement in Latin America and the Caribbean. International Institute for Sustainable Development. https://www.iisd.org/publications/toward-strategic-public-procurement-latin-america-and-caribbean

Chicago

Ruete,, Liesbeth Casier,Marina. Toward Strategic Public Procurement in Latin America and the Caribbean. International Institute for Sustainable Development, 2020. https://www.iisd.org/publications/toward-strategic-public-procurement-latin-america-and-caribbean.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ruete, |first1=Liesbeth Casier,Marina |title=Toward Strategic Public Procurement in Latin America and the Caribbean |publisher=International Institute for Sustainable Development |date=28 June 2020 |url=https://www.iisd.org/publications/toward-strategic-public-procurement-latin-america-and-caribbean |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{ruete2020toward, author = {Ruete,, Liesbeth Casier,Marina}, title = {{Toward Strategic Public Procurement in Latin America and the Caribbean}}, institution = {International Institute for Sustainable Development}, year = {2020}, month = jun, url = {https://www.iisd.org/publications/toward-strategic-public-procurement-latin-america-and-caribbean}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }