~ 17 ~ International Journal of Circuit, Computing and Networking 2022; 3(2): 17-26 E-ISSN: 2707-5931 P-ISSN: 2707-5923 IJCCN 2022; 3(2): 17-26 Received: 08-05-2022 Accepted: 07-06-2022 Oliver Osei Dwomoh Department of Purchasing and Supply, Cape Coast Technical University, Ghana Mark Quaye Affum Cape Coast Technical University, Ghana Samuel Bruce Rockson Department of Purchasing and Supply, Cape Coast Technical University, Ghana Corresponding Author: Oliver Osei Dwomoh Department of Purchasing and Supply, Cape Coast Technical University, Ghana Ensuring sustainability in public procurement in Ghana: A case study at cape coast technical university Oliver Osei Dwomoh, Mark Quaye Affum and Samuel Bruce Rockson DOI: https://doi.org/10.33545/27075923.2022.v3.i2a.45 Abstract Importance of the application of sustainability in public procurement in Government educational institutions globally, is well-documented. This study examined the application of sustainable procurement at Cape Coast Technical University. A sample size of thirty one respondents, made up of staff of the institution in departments concerned with procurement, selected using census sampling. The analysis was undertaken quantitatively using frequency and percentage tables. The study revealed that though sustainability standards are applied in procurement at the university, most of the staff in other departments apart from the Procurement Unit, need more education in sustainable procurement to appreciate the need for sustainability in the procurement system. The study also revealed that not only is sustainability ensured in the procurement system of the university by procuring most of the sustainable goods and services from small scale local suppliers, attempts are always made to procure sustainable goods to ensure their longevity. Among the recommendations made, are; the university should observe sustainability in the various steps of purchasing cycle for instance when identifying need, drawing of specification, selecting and awarding contract to suppliers or contractors and also practice sustainability in the consumption of the items procured. Management of the institution need to organize workshops on sustainable procurement for the staff and reduce the problems that hinder sustainable procurement at CCTU. It went on to explain what sustainable procurement is by describing what sustainability is and it’s important for the growth and survival of public organisations and institutions. There was a discussion of the nature of procurement in Ghana before promulgation of Ghana’s Public Procurement Act (PPA Act 663) of 2003 and the amended Act 914 of 2016 which ironed out some of the challenges in the Act 663. Keywords: Sustainability, procurement, public, social environment, economic 1. Introduction 1.1 Background of the study All organisations, whether public or private, depend on the purchase of resources for their operations and survival. Such purchases are undertaken using the procurement process. In its simplest terms, procurement has been defined by the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary as the process of obtaining military supplies by a government. However, the modern meaning of procurement goes beyond this simplistic meaning. Procurement is described as the acquisition of goods, services or works from external sources that has comparable importance with its appropriateness and favourable cost benefits to meet the demands of the buyer with respect to time, quality, location and quantity (Van Weele, 2010) [25] . Public procurement refers to as the acquisition of goods, services and works by a procuring entity using public funds (Arrowsmith et al., 2011) [34] . In Ghana, public procurement forms an important aspect of public expenditure. This is because according to the Country Procurement Assessment Report (CPAR) of 2003 of Ghana (World-Bank, 2003) [30] , public procurement accounted for 50-70% of the national budget, after personal emolument. As a result, the Government of Ghana passed the Public Procurement Act (Act 663) in 2003, following long standing reforms by several regimes dating as far back as 1960 and the Amendment Act (Act 194) of 2016 to cater for the few challenges of Act 663 of 2003. There has therefore been the growing need to ensure implementation of effective sustainable procurement in the country. Over the past two decades, the term sustainable procurement has become an important issue, globally. Sustainable procurement is described as the acquisition process, whereby public and private organizations meet their needs of goods, services and works