Public procurement is an important tool for providing public services to citizens and businesses. From an economic perspective, it contributes to an efficient and effective management of public resources (OECD, 2015).

Beyond the economic aspect of achieving “value for money”, procurement has been increasingly used strategically – through deliberate choices of how to spend taxpayers’ money and provide public services -to achieve strategic policy objectives, such as mitigating climate change, supporting innovation or social inclusion.

To achieve these strategic objectives, countries employ specific strategies, tools and mechanisms throughout the public procurement cycle. Measurement frameworks are essential to i) assess progress and achievements periodically and consistently and ii) identify any gaps in progress against objectives and targets. Such frameworks will enable governments, contracting authorities and other stakeholders to use the data to take action and/or to tailor specific strategies.

The OECD Recommendation on Public Procurement highlights the need to drive performance improvements by evaluating the effectiveness of the public procurement system, from individual procurements to the system as a whole, at all levels of government, where feasible and appropriate (OECD, 2015).