Embedded in the economic competition, public procurement has amajor role to play in being a driving force for the promotion of a globallypositive competition that prides the best sustainable products and services,rather than only the more economically efficient ones. Responsible for ahuge part of the human pressure on natural resources, and having a largeshare in the public funding, the built environment sector provides animportant venue for the use of sustainable public procurement as a tool toenhance the sustainability of societies.Selecting the best sustainable offer is a challenging task requiringenvironmental and social assessments that can only be based on complexlife cycle thinking analysis. Through the development of the “ExhaustiveSustainable public procurement clauses Manual”, this paper analyses publicprocurement issues and their potential solutions, with a focus on theenvironmental performance in buildings procurement.