Purchasing Preferences

On occasion, governments at the local, state and federal level make purchasing policies that take factors besides price into consideration. For instance, some state and local governments prefer to purchase locally manufactured products, all other things being equal. Government agencies frequently purchase recycled paper for their offices, or environmentally friendly cleaners for their janitorial service, even when the non-ecological option might be cheaper.

The city of Bangor, Maine recently required its government attempt to avoid purchasing police and other municipal uniforms manufactures in sweatshops. Some of the strictest purchasing laws, referred to as "selective purchasing laws", are those that bar a government from contracting with firms that do business with a particular oppressive foreign regime. In the 1970s and 1980s, hundreds of cities and institutions practiced selective purchasing targeted at the apartheid regime in South Africa. More recently, selective purchasing laws have been targeted at Burma, Nigeria, China and Indonesia.

The selective purchasing laws targeted at South Africa in the 70s and 80s led to an exodus of companies and their investment from the country, causing the eventual demise of the apartheid regime. But those cities that passed Burma laws in the 90s have found that the rules have changed. Massachusetts' and two dozen other Burma laws were invalidated by the US Supreme Court in June 2000. The lawsuit had been brought by the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), an umbrella group representing 580 transnationals, who claimed the purchasing laws interfere with the constitutional right of the federal government to conduct foreign policy. The European Union and Japan had also filed a complaint against Massachusetts' law under the Government Procurement Agreement of the WTO, which forbids nation-states from using non-economic criteria in deciding contract bids.

The Supreme Court decision, however, was narrowly worded and does not repeal those selective purchasing laws targeted at countries other than Burma. The decision did not say that selective purchasing laws are unconstitutional. It simply said that states and localities may not pass laws that conflict with measures enacted by Congress. (Congress imposed limited sanctions against Myanmar (formerly Burma in 1996).

RULES:

• Clean Clothes Campaign - Bangor, Maine
  On October 25, 1999 the Bangor, Maine, (population 33,000) City Council passed a selective purchasing policy, establishing guidelines for buying clothing, footwear and other products from "responsible contractors." Bidders to supply items such as police and fire uniforms, footwear and recreational equipment will be asked a series of questions: Where are the goods made? Is child or forced labor used there? Has the manufacturing facility been determined to have violated international labor standards? Are unions allowed? What are the wages like? The city then takes this information into account as one factor in deciding who gets the city's business. More...
  
  
• Environmentally Preferable Purchasing
  The US government is the world's biggest consumer and together federal, state and local governments spend hundreds of billions of dollars annually on goods and services. This purchasing power can be used to promote environmentally friendly products and practices in the economy. Government purchasing can significantly enlarge the market for a producer's goods as well as set an example to the private sector and individuals to purchase them as well. More...
  
  
• Local Preferable Puchasing
  When making procurement decisions, many cities and states give preference to local businesses as a means to nurture small businesses and local economies. Some of these jurisdictions give a local preference only in the case of tie bids, but others give preference if a bid from a local business is within a certain percentage of the lowest non-local bid. More than two dozen cities and a handful of states have such laws. More...