Sustainable procurement practices for cost reduction in humanitarian operations

Abstract The study examines sustainable procurement as a strategic capability that strengthens cost efficiency and operational continuity within humanitarian operations. It addresses the limited understanding of sustainability driven procurement practices and their influence on long term cost structures, supplier reliability, and supply chain resilience. A qualitative design was implemented through in depth interviews with procurement, logistics, sustainability, and supplier specialists from five organizations involved in humanitarian operations. The data were analyzed through thematic coding that explored patterns related to sustainability criteria, organizational capabilities, donor constraints, and procurement maturity. The study reveals that sustainability focused on procurement reduces product failure, strengthens supplier consistency, lowers replacement volume, and stabilizes operational planning. Sustainable procurement also improves lead time performance when local suppliers are integrated. Donor regulations and internal capacity differences restrict sustainability adoption, while organizational maturity, supplier development, and leadership commitment enable improved outcomes. The findings support a framework that links sustainability criteria, lifecycle cost considerations, supplier relationships, and organizational enablers to long term cost efficiency and resilience. The findings are based on qualitative evidence from selected organizations. Broader empirical testing across regions and crisis types could extend the generalizability of the proposed framework.