Local barriers in the efficient use of Green Public Procurement - case of Slovaki

Green public procurement is a voluntary tool through which public procurers cancontribute to the objectives of environmental policy. The legal framework and public policyof green procurement is covered by the European Union. The main goal is to contribute tothe consideration of environmental characteristics in public purchases as well asenvironmental management and the life-cycle costs of the goods, services and work.However, the objectives of the legal framework and the policy to promote green publicprocurement are often not achieved due to the barriers posed by economic practice. The aimof the article is to analyze the local barriers in the effective use of green public procurementin Slovakia. The processing of results is based on the annual evaluation reports to theNational Action Plan for Green Public Procurement in Slovakia for 2016-2020. Identifiedlocal barriers include financial constraints on contracting authorities and a preference forevaluating contracts based on the lowest price criterion, insufficiently built administrative(personal) capacity to implement green public procurement, fear of discrimination inincorporating environmental criteria into tender documents and subsequent sanctions fromcontrol bodies. Last but not least, the voluntary application of green public procurement atregional and local level is also included among the barriers in the efficient use of this tool inpractice.