Contributions of public purchasing departments to competitive acquisition processes for consulting services

Abstract

The extant literature provides very little insight into the way in which public purchasing departments are contributing to competitive acquisition processes for consulting services. This research attempts to address this shortcoming by describing the way that public purchasing departments have been able to contribute to these decisions throughout the various stages of the acquisition process. Study informants included 1782 public purchasers from federal, state, provincial, and local government agencies throughout the United States and Canada. While the purchasing department is involved in these important purchase decisions, it would seem that their respective agencies might benefit from increased involvement and consequently the value that can result.