The main objective of this article is to analyse the economic and environmental benefits associated with the implementation of Green Public Procurement and Minimum Environmental Criteria in a specific tender published by Arpa Piemonte for its headquarters in the city of Turin. The focus lies on the modernization of the internal lighting system shifting from CFL to LED technology: the analysis of environmental aspects measures the reduction of GHG emissions through Bilan Carbone; the economic benefits are analysed with the Life Cycle Costing tool of the European Commission.

Japanese government has sought to create and implement an IT procurement system that fosters competitive bidding. This study examines 31 IT procurement case studies surrounding the 2016 launch of Japan’s social security and tax number system with which the author was directly involved. It identifies a disjunction between IT procurement as a legal and a social system, wherein the government and vendors acknowledge that some vendors will inevitably be awarded contracts. The Japanese government should thus reconsider its IT procurement system and abandon competitiveness as a goal.

The major changes introduced by the new Spanish Law 9/2017 transposing the EU Directives of 2014 to the Spanish legal framework are discussed in this paper as well as major challenges due to their new law. Special attention is given to the adoption of mandatory e-procurement, including e-tendering, to all public contracts.