Abstract. The paper studies the historical and legal background of the formation and development of government procurement in Ukraine. It analyzes the essence and significance of public procurement for the effective development of budgetary enterprises, institutions and organizations in different historical periods. It has been established that public procurement took various forms long before the independence of Ukraine. State orders are considered in the context of the broader problem of state regulation of the economy, namely one of the most serious and ambiguous economic problems is the rational interaction of the state and the market system in the process of public procurement. It is substantiated that a full-fledged national economy largely depends on how transparent and economically justified public expenditures on the maintenance of institutions financed from the state budget. Detected that one of the most promising ways to implement the concept of rational and efficient use of budget funds is the widespread introduction of a single structured system in the procurement of goods, works and services for public needs, based on competition, transparency, non-discrimination and decentralization. The paper reviews specifics of legislative regulation of public procurement in the relevant periods. The stage of transition of the system of centralized production planning, distribution of material and technical resources, the function of the state order as an absolute state regulator in the production of products and services to the means of meeting the needs of material resources, products, works and services of consumers supported by the state budget. It identifies the main differences in the approaches to understanding the essence of public procurement. The paper provides a detailed description of the influence of factors and circumstances on the development of the legal framework of public procurement. It determines and substantiates government procurement development periods. The paper analyzes the negative effects of omissions and non-finalization of the legal framework of each respective period. It studies the methods of and reasons for changing the terminology in the formation of the conceptual apparatus of the modern legal framework. Conclusions on changes, additions and adjustments to the legal framework of public procurement are provided. The paper assesses the main differences between the adopted public procurement laws. Keywords: government procurement, public procurement, tender, government contracts. Formulas: 0; fig.: 0; tabl.: 2; bibl.: 10.