Public procurement and sustainable development compatibilities and frictions between paradigms and practices: The case of the rail industry
This article analyzes, on two different levels of understanding, the degree of compatibility between sustainable development issues and the use of public procurement in European markets. The first level is conceptual, with a questioning about a possible agreement between the theoretical principles at the heart of sustainable development on the one hand and the European ideology underlying public procurement functioning, on the other. The second level is pragmatic, questioning the possible degree of integration of sustainable development in public procurement. We will support our reflections with the case of the railway industry, using materials from action-research in an industrial company in this sector.