Slovak Republic

This chapter provides analysis and recommendations on the strategic use of public procurement in Bratislava. It looks at key elements of the city’s public procurement system: processes and measures to enhance the efficiency of procurement outcomes, the use of public procurement to achieve policy objectives such as sustainability and small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) development, the relevance of measurement frameworks and the capabilities of the procurement workforce. It also looks at transparency and risk management in the procurement process to enhance citizens’ trust.

Subnational governments carry out more than 60% of total public procurement in OECD countries. As such, public procurement can offer a powerful tool for cities to boost local growth and advance their strategic priorities, ranging from innovation and inclusion to the transition to a low-carbon economy. Bratislava, the most populated and richest municipality in the Slovak Republic, carried out 39% of its expenditures through public procurement in 2019. The COVID-19 crisis has enhanced both the urgency and the opportunity to improve the city's procurement system and to rethink "what" and "how" to procure. In this context, Bratislava is developing new directives to make its procurement processes more efficient. This report offers recommendations on how Bratislava can use public procurement strategically to identify value-for-money solutions, foster competition, and promote sustainable urban development. The report also includes a concrete case study on Bratislava’s public procurement for street lighting, which provides methodological guidance on the analysis of needs, market engagement, and tender design.

Understanding adults’ attitudes towards the environment is necessary to gauge the opportunities and challenges of creating effective and politically-feasible climate policies. Using data from the Wellcome Global Monitor 2020, the European Social Survey (Round 8), World Values Survey and EM-DAT, this paper examines how adults’ environmental attitudes vary within and across countries and details how environmental attitudes are associated with adults’ engagement in pro-environmental behaviours and support for environmentally-friendly policies. The paper explores whether the extent to which individuals prioritise the environment over the state of the economy or vice versa depends on individuals’ exposure to natural disasters or negative labour market conditions. Results indicate that people’s economic vulnerability and the sectors they work in impact their attitudes towards their environment and support for public policy. Furthermore, the findings suggest that increases in unemployment and exposure to natural disasters influence the extent to which individuals prioritise the environment.