Implementation and Sustainability Assessment of a Public Procurement Strategy

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic crisis marks a rare example of a supply disruption that had a devastating effect on the global economy. The vaccine has then been considered to be an effective long-term solution. The particularity of the supply chain of the COVID-19 vaccine is that the procurement is made by government agencies directly from the manufacturers, thus bypassing the typical vaccine supply chain of distributors and wholesalers. The first purpose of this paper is to further understand the public procurement strategies (PPSs) for the COVID-19 vaccine in a pandemic situation, using a methodology that brings together Kraljic’s purchasing portfolio model, Porter’s five forces analysis and a multi-attribute decision making method. The second aim is to evaluate the sustainability of a PPS, using the sustainable development analytical grid (SDAG), an analytical tool that addresses six dimensions: ecological, social, economic, ethical, cultural and governance. To assess the effectiveness of the methodology, we consider Morocco, an emergent country, as a case study. It results that Morocco’s approach is in line with the theoretical strategy: diversification and bringing the production in house. The sustainability assessment shows that the PPS covers the six dimensions, but considering the urge for an economic and social recovery, some sustainable development objectives are to be prioritized.