Innovation In Public Procurement Research Articles

The perks of being an attractive public customer

PurposeIn industrial buyer–supplier relationships, being an attractive customer has been found to result in superior supplier performance. However, there is a limited understanding of how these benefits transfer to the public domain. This study aims to explore the influence of customer attractiveness on supplier resource mobilization efforts toward the public sector.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach was used, focusing on in-depth interviews with 23 informants from 3 critical and complex supplier markets. The data were processed using inductive coding and thematic analysis.FindingsThe findings indicate that customer attractiveness in the public sector influences suppliers’ mobilization efforts on several dimensions. In addition to stimulating competition in the tender phase, customer attractiveness can yield important benefits to quality, supply stability and innovation during the business relationship. It appears imperative for the public sector to improve its standings with suppliers to both mitigate the apparent risk of sub-par treatment and to unlock the preferential supplier treatment associated with being an attractive customer.Social implicationsReceiving increased mobilization from suppliers will result in better use of public money and help improve resilience and innovation in public procurement.Originality/valueThis study extends the research on customer attractiveness in the public sector by being the first to explore the range and nature of its influence on supplier mobilization efforts.

Procedura selekcji projektów unijnych – ocena i możliwości zastosowania w zamówieniach publicznych

Purpose – The main objective of the study is a multi‑faceted assessment of the process of obtaining EU funds by enterprises and the identification of the possibility of their use in other areas where public entities participate in the project selection process. Research method – To achieve the goal, a targeted review of literature, legal acts, and analysis of documentation of the Regional Operational Program for the Lubelskie Voivodeship for 2014–2020 (RPO LV 2014–2020) were carried out. In addition, individual and unstructured group interviews were conducted, and the method of analysis and logical construction was used. Results – The revealed features of the EU project selection process and the identified possibilities of its adaptation in the area of public procurement for innovations confirm its usefulness as a tool to stimulate sustainable development. Originality/value/implications/recommendations – The study presents an original approach to the evaluation of the selection procedure for projects financed from EU funds, which is carried out to be verified in terms of usefulness in other projects. The postulate of using the procedure in public procurement for innovations formulated in the article is in line with the postulates made by the European Union in the field of quality and innovation in public procurement and the selection of the most economically advantageous tenders instead of those with the lowest price.

Introduction: The Promise and Perils of Innovation in Cross-Border Procurement

This is the introductory chapter to a collective volume, Joint Public Procurement and Innovation: Lessons Across Borders (G. M. Racca – C. R. Yukins, eds.) (Bruylant, 2019), vol. 27 of the Administrative Law/Droit Administratif Collection (Director: Jean-Bernard Auby). Innovation is essential for sustainable and inclusive growth in an increasingly globalized economy. To achieve that potential, both the promises and perils of innovation must be investigated, including the risks and opportunities of joint procurement across borders. This in-depth research by a range of procurement experts investigates innovation in public procurement from three different perspectives. First, leading academics and practitioners assess the purchase of innovation, with a particular focus on public contracting for “smart cities,” with a view to meta-infrastructures, public-private partnership arrangements and “smart” contracts. A second line of inquiry looks for ways to encourage innovative suppliers. Here, the collected authors draw on emerging lessons from the United States and Europe, to explore the costs and benefits of spurring innovation through procurement. A third perspective looks to various innovations in the procurement process itself, with a focus on the effects of joint and cross-border procurement in both the European Union and the United States. These chapters review new technologies and platforms, the increasingly automated means of selecting suppliers, and the related efficiencies that “big data” can bring to public procurement. Expanding on research in the editors’ prior volume, Integrity and Efficiency in Sustainable Public Contracts: Balancing Corruption Concerns in Public Procurement Internationally (Bruylant 2014), this volume builds on a series of academic conferences and exchanges to address these issues from sophisticated academic, institutional and practical perspectives, and to point the way to future research on contractual models that are emerging from new procurement technologies. List of contributors: directed by G.M. Racca and C. R. Yukins, this book contains texts by: J.-B. Auby, A. Asatryan, M. Borodina, R. Cavallo Perin, L. Diesing, G.M. Di Giuda, D. Dragos, G.F. Ferrari, L. Folliot- Lalliot, J.M. Gimeno Feliu, M. Ismail, J. Kaufman, C. Kronke, I. Locatelli, P. Magina, P.T. McKeen, A. Mino Lopez, J. Molino, M. Pignatti, S. Ponzio, G.M. Racca, B. Racolța, A. Romeo, C. Santerre-Funderburg, D. Schoeni, M.A. Simovart, P. Valcarcel Fernandez, and C.R. Yukins.

Improvement Actions for a More Social and Sustainable Public Procurement: A Delphi Analysis

Public procurement accounts for almost 20% of Spain’s gross domestic product (GDP). The current legislation allows for the inclusion of social considerations in contracting processes, hence the interest of this study, which defines the procedures and improvement actions for socially efficient public procurement. The Delphi technique has been used, based on online surveys completed by 71 Spanish experts. The universe includes the set of nomenclature of territorial units for statistics (NUTs), as well as a number of agents with the potential to intervene in the analysis process, namely, academia, the business sector, and public administrations. There is an increasing call for the inclusion of social considerations in tender procedures. However, to date, few studies have provided detailed insight into the inclusion of these social aspects. This study contributes to the scientific literature by identifying six possible strategies for including social considerations into public tenders, namely: objectivizing procedures, generating monitoring tools, developing information and training actions for decision-makers, incorporating awareness-raising initiatives, creating transparency systems, and including information and communication technologies (ICTs). The following four key action areas were also detected: social clauses, reserved markets, social impact assessment, and innovation in public procurement. A consensus was reached on four frames for incorporating the strategies and action areas, namely: socio-economic, procedural, competence, and conceptual. This allows for the efficient inclusion of social considerations into public tenders, thereby generating a twofold impact—one via the goods or services acquired, and the second via the impact on the process of producing said goods or services.

Sustainable innovation in public procurement: the decisive role of the individual

PurposeThis study aims to highlight the effect of individual attributes of procurement professionals on goals concerning public procurement of sustainable innovation. Several barriers haven been observed regarding the application of public money to achieve these goals. Most research concerning these barriers focuses on organizational factors. Corporate initiatives are typically presented as a way forward tot achieve sustainable innovation. Less attention is paid to the efforts and attributes of the individual procurement professional.Design/methodology/approachA questionnaire was sent to 283 officials, involved in the procurement process of a large public organization.FindingsAs expected, a lack of top management support has a negative impact on sustainable innovation. Legal and regulatory complexity is less of a hindrance. The results indicate that both individual innovativeness and individual collectivism have a significant positive effect on sustainable innovation. Findings further suggest that an important way for an organization to achieve sustainable innovation is to allow individuals sufficient discretion to pursue sustainable initiatives. Many initiatives can be attributed to the individual innovativeness of procurement professionals.Originality/valueThe relation beween individual attributes of procurement professionals on the application of public money to achieve goals of sustainable innovation is investigated and can serve as a basis for further sudy on this subject.

Fostering innovation in public procurement through public private partnerships

PurposeThe prevailing view in the studies on Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) is that PPPs can improve the quality and efficiency of infrastructure services and facilitates innovation in infrastructure developments. Although researchers highlight the potentiality of PPP models for stimulating innovation, they do not prove whether and in which conditions the PPP model is capable of developing innovative solutions. This paper aims to provide answers to the following key research questions: Which are the PPP features that favor innovation? How properly structure a PPP to foster innovation?Design/methodology/approachWith this aim, drawing upon the main streams of studies on innovation, the authors develop a conceptual framework that identifies the PPP features that can influence the innovativeness. Second, they define how these PPP features have to be structured to foster innovation.FindingThe authors find that a wider involvement of the private sector will increase the level of innovation. The industry structure exerts opposite forces on innovation: the dominance of large-sized firms is positively related to innovative output, whereas the market concentration negatively affects innovation. Performance-based contracts should be used in the context of PPP instead of traditional contracts. Finally, the authors find that, to fully exploit the networking effects on innovation, cooperation and trusting among partners involved in PPPs should be enhanced.Originality/valueThe developed framework identifies the relations existing between each PPP feature and the level of innovation and allows to define how these PPP features have to be structured to foster innovation. The authors contribute to fill the gap in the academic literature on PPP and innovation by proving whether and in which conditions the PPP model is capable of developing innovative solutions. Furthermore, they provide meaningful guidelines to those called to structure the PPP arrangements.

Innovation and public procurement: Terminology, concepts, and applications

The growing awareness of public procurement as an innovation policy tool has recently sparked the interest of both policy makers and researchers. While an increasing number of studies is being published every year, an overview of the field is missing. Researchers, practitioners, and policy makers are often using ambiguous wording and have not yet reached consensus on the terminology and concepts involved. This state of affairs leads to research fragmentation and lack of knowledge convergence. For the purpose of contributing to knowledge synthesis and consolidation, this article provides a structured review of the literature on innovation in public procurement. From categorizing publications based on innovation drivers, concepts, and research approaches, the emerging structure of the field is described and synthesized into a framework of innovation in public procurement. The proposed framework differentiates between literature streams on (1) innovations in the public procurement process, (2) innovation of public services by means of procurement, and (3) the use of public procurement as a tool for demand-side innovation policy-making. For each of these streams of literature, different focus areas as well as research gaps and opportunities for future research are identified. Based on analysis of existing research, the proposed framework provides an overview of state-of-the-art knowledge, a unified terminology, and a holistic understanding of innovation in public procurement. The framework is both a point of departure for future research and a source of knowledge for practitioners.

Innovation in Public Procurement: Terminology, Concepts, and Applications

The growing awareness of public procurement as an innovation policy tool has recently sparked the interest of both policy makers and researchers. While an increasing amount of studies is being published every year, an overview of the field is missing. Researchers, practitioners and policy makers are often using ambiguous terms and have not yet reached consensus on a shared terminology and understanding of the concepts involved. For the purpose of establishing coherence, this article provides a structured review of the literature on innovation in public procurement. From categorizing publications based on innovation drivers, concepts, and research approaches, the emerging structure of the field is described and synthesized into a framework of innovation in public procurement. Our framework differentiates between literature streams on (1) innovations in the public procurement process, (2) innovation of public services by means of procurement, and (3) the use of public procurement as a tool for demand-side innovation policy-making. For each of these streams of literature, we identify different focus areas as well as research gaps and opportunities for future research. Based on analysis of existing research, the proposed framework provides for a clear understanding of the current state of the art, which benefits both researchers and practitioners within this field.

Standards in green public procurement – A framework to enhance innovation

Green Public Procurement (GPP) is defined as purchasing which reduces environmental impacts across product or service life cycles. Standardization, as another demand-side measure, complements GPP by shaping standards, which when strategically applied in tenders can drive market demand for environmental products and services and stimulate eco-innovation. However, the uptake of GPP, use of standards, and consideration of innovation in public procurement is limited, and analyses often only consider two of the three. To broaden conceptualizations of innovation in GPP, this paper conducts a review and synthesis of relevant literature to examine roles for standards and standardization in GPP according to innovation life cycle stages, from R&D through to commercialization and diffusion. It develops a conceptual space for product and service innovations according to the purchase of off-the-shelf products or services, incremental adaptations through the public procurement of innovation, and radical innovations using pre-commercial procurement and innovation partnerships. Roles for particular types of standards are examined as inputs to these different mechanisms. Focusing on pre-commercial procurement, standardization is then situated according to distinct stages in the R&D process. Four case studies from literature are applied to support this framework. This paper creates a foundation for integrated understanding of the functions of standards - and applicability of standardization - in demand-side product and process development and market penetration for environmental improvement. Its framework may be used as a conceptual space for public procurers across Europe to better visualize characteristics of products and services when making tender design decisions based on functionality and rewarding performance. Further study should also consider procurer capabilities for sourcing and revealing knowledge to improve procurement outcomes, as ultimately capturing the benefits from GPP hinges upon its ability to be conducted in practice.

Tools of innovative public procurement in health care in Poland

This paper sets out to map the issues of innovation in public procurement in Poland with specific reference to health care and presents case studies of Polish hospitals using an innovative approach to public procurement. It is based on the analysis of secondary data collected using Internet search engines, introductory research conducted in hospitals which have recently used innovative procurement tools (e.g. technical dialogue and competitive dialogue) and the experience of two Polish hospitals involved in projects aimed at increasing the efficiency of procurement through innovations, described in a case study form. Although innovative procurement in Poland is at an early stage of development, it is also a topic of growing interest to both public authorities and hospitals and some hospitals are adopting new procurement methods such technical and competitive dialogue. However, barriers to the adoption of new procurement approaches are evident and these delay this process of adoption. Barriers encountered include the conservative organizational culture of hospitals, lack of awareness and know-how and a lack of trust and understanding of new procurement approaches.