Integrating socio-economic policies into the Public Procurement framework

With increased globalisation, the concept of closing national borders against foreign firms in bidding and winning domestic contracts is increasingly falling by the way side. Opening up procurement markets, it is argued, creates competition on the supply side leading to government achieving its primary objective of value for money through procuring cost effectively.
Many governments are however not ready to cede all the purchasing power in public procurement to freer trade. This is due to the argument that public procurement can be used to achieve social economic objectives such as stimulating infant industries, fostering underdeveloped regions and creating employment.
Given both arguments, this paper develops a procurement policy option model (PPOM) used as a decision tool to determine whether a contract should be awarded to a foreign or a domestic firm. It helps to put countries at a comfortable pedestal to institute discriminatory procurement schemes within their procurement framework without compromising on the fundamental principle of value for money.