Enhancing transparency and fairness in public procurement process with the support of blockchain technology: a smart contract based approach

Abstract

The possibility of establishing a transparent public procurement process through the inclusion of protected transparent digital technologies or platforms, such as blockchain technology, represents a significant step forward in the field of public procurement. Furthermore, if we add to this idea the Ethereum network and the ability to create applications that run on this network, such as smart contracts, the procurement process can be made much more objective and transparent to all participants in the process. The proposed model presented in this paper consists of two smart contracts. Each one of them has its own basic building blocks used for different phases of the public procurement process, from the definition of security access polices for different parts of procurement contract, public procurement procedure, bidding by interested bidders, evaluation of bids and the final publication of the results. Elements of the proposed system have been analyzed and presented and some of the further development plans have been formulated.