ABSTRACT
The successful public procurement of infrastructure is an essential element in the achievement of sustainable development. This success is dependent on the procurement strategy adopted. The ability of a procurement strategy to achieve the project objectives is based on the strategy being specifically tailor made to the infrastructure type and the context of the procurement. Research has shown that water is a key element in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals because it plays a part in achieving fourteen of the seventeen goals. With the majority of the world's poor living in urban areas with limited access to clean drinking water. Its infrastructure is clearly the most essential. Nigeria has the fourth largest low income urban population. These limited resources that Nigeria has to effectively utilise them to provide this essential service and provide sustainable development for its citizenry. The study was aimed at developing a public procurement strategy for the provision of potable water infrastructure to low income urban areas in Nigeria. The Research carried out was the case studies of water infrastructure procured for the Millennium Development Goals Nigeria for MDG Goal 7 in Kaduna, Anambra and Ogun states. The research population was made up of three key components; the contractors, the clients and the communities. The client and contractors were interviewed to ascertain the effectiveness of the existing strategy in terms of achieving their project goals, critically analyse the strategy and propose improvements. The communities participated in the focus group to ascertain their assessment of the existing strategy, their role in the process and propose improvement. The research found that only one public strategy was identified to be used by the Client Organisation which was based on competitive tendering and the traditional procurement process. Although it had some advantages such as competition, it did not achieve both the primary and secondary goals of the procurement process and hence was deemed ineffective. Some of the limitations identified of the current strategy included; political interference, lack of community involvement, inadequate design, transparency, no feedback mechanism, sustainability and maintenance issues .Consequently, a strategy framework was developed after a critical analysis of the problems and the context in which they emerge, and the various possible solutions to the problems were identified and evaluated. The developed strategy framework which consisted of the five stages (need definition, design, tendering, construction and operation) and three resource assessment gateways. The framework inculcated the importance of defined primary and secondary project objectives, a clear and distinct role for the community and other stakeholders, effective risk distribution, and provided a more holistic flexible sustainable strategy that could be implemented for immediate use under current laws or the planned reform. The study recommends that when developing an effective procurement strategy, achieving all specific goals of key stakeholders and an effective community and stakeholder management system should be given priority.