Public Purchasing Research Articles

Requirements Identification Towards a Design of Adaptive ICTs for Supporting Bipolar Disorder Treatment in Different Healthcare Contexts

This paper presents patient and caregiver perspective on ICTs supporting bipolar disorder management in multinational healthcare provisioning contexts. The envisioned mHealth solutions should adopt general requirements that could be instantiated into different clinical settings. Engagement of users in designing new technologies for mental health is crucial to ensure empowerment and patient-centeredness of services. We performed focus groups to understand user needs, attitudes and experiences towards the supportive ICTs in two target regions where the expected solutions will operate. The survey offered valuable inputs for the construction of the clinical requirements used to produce a trans-national call for tender on mobile health solutions aimed at supporting bipolar disorders treatment among public purchasers in different European countries. The study was part of the NYMHPA-MD (Next Generation Mobile Platform for Health in Mental Disorders) project, co-funded by the European Commission.

Electronic government procurement implementation in India: a cross sectional study

In the recent past, electronic procurement has drawn lots of attention in India due to its potential of bringing transparency and efficiency in public purchases. The Government of India launched National E-Government Plan in 2006 with e-procurement as integrated Mission Mode Project. The purpose of this paper is to assess the status of e-procurement implementation in India for government procurements. The paper delves into the co-relation between e-procurement system utilisation and e-readiness level of each state government and union territory in India. The research entailed census survey which was complemented by qualitative case studies and analysis of data hosted on e-procurement portals. The study brings out that there is significant co-relation between e-readiness level and utilisation of e-procurement system by a state. Barring few states where top leadership support has been a key factor behind success of e-procurement implementation in remaining states the system is under-utilised.

Examining the Effects of Post Tender Negotiation in UK's Public Sector Procurements: An Empirical Study

Abstract The use of Post Tender Negotiation (PTN) procedure in the United Kingdom (UK) public sector procurements is restricted to exceptional cases. The proponents of these restrictions, including the European Union (EU) and the UK's Office for Government Commerce (OGC) cite ethical reasons. They argue that the procedure could stifle competition as the actions of the buyer could be unethically tilted in favour of certain suppliers. This paper argues that the restrictions deprive public sector buyers from reaping the benefits associated with the procedure and recommends relaxation of the restrictions. This is because findings from this study indicate positive effects of PTN for both buyer and supplier. The buyers can use the PTN procedure to negotiate for VFM procurement, while the suppliers can modify a bid to negotiate for contract which is within their resource capabilities to execute. Furthermore, the ethical reasons cited for the restrictions are narrowly premised as evidence in literature suggests that individual's ethical behaviour may be due to cultural beliefs and not necessarily rules set by authorities.

Reinforcing the Efficiency of Public Procurement

P ublic procurement, the generic term used to refer to stage and the execution stage (renegotiation). We believe procurement contracts (traditional procurement), public service delegations (including concessions) and public private partnerships, currently represents today significant amounts of money as it is believed to account for nearly 15% of the GDP in France. Whilst the public pro- curement system must strive to achieve the best possible performance in terms of cost and service, its inefficiency is highlighted on a regular basis. In (actual) fact, subs- tantial gains could be achieved through a more efficient management of the system. The present Note examines potential avenues of action, in the framework of the regulatory changes currently under way at European level, with the aim of increasing the efficiency of the public procure- ment system. The contracts upon which the public procurement system is based are subject to certain asymmetries of information (in that the company is more familiar with its costs and the economic environment than the public party) and contrac- tual incompleteness (since it is impossible to foresee every possible event that might arise during the execution of the contract). This being the case, the economic analy- sis recommends that competitive forces be used where- ver possible when it comes to selecting partners and that incentive mechanisms be put in place to establish a real commitment of the parties concerned. New European Directives regarding procurement contracts and concessions, approved in 2014 and expected to be transposed by 2016, will give public authorities greater flexibility to negotiate with companies at both the selection this change to be a positive and economically justified one. It is, however, crucial that it be supported by specific terms governing its management that are not currently outlined in the Directives. Our recommendations are based on three key avenues, namely transparency, competition and expertise. The negotiation procedure must be supported by transpa- rent information both prior to and following negotiation. During the execution stage, it must be possible for amend- ments to contracts to be contested without debilitating the process by facilitating an increase in the number of futile appeals. We also put forward a number of recom- mendations designed to encourage greater transparency where public procurement is concerned. For the purposes of intensifying competition at the tendering stage it would be useful to limit the number of elec- tronic information platforms and to merge them towards a high-performance standardised model. At the same time, it is advisable to simplify procedures, to increase the pro- fessionalisation of public buyers and to centralise the most standard of purchases in order to benefit from eco- nomies of scale and pool the experience of public buyers. Finally, with regards to large-scale projects, we would recommend that a comparative evaluation be performed beforehand in order to determine the most appropriate public procurement tool to meet the needs of the public authorities concerned. The agency responsible for this prior evaluation would also perform ex post evaluations with a view to drawing lessons regarding the various tools and procedures available.

Public e-procurement impacts in small- and medium-enterprises

The European Union (EU) created directives to regulate the moving to full Public e-Procurement (Pe-P) for all public purchases by 2016. Despite the undisputable benefits, member states are lagging behind on this paradigm shift. Also Pe-P's scholarly evaluation and theoretical knowledge behind it are still very limited. This paper makes a contribution to the literature gap related to Pe-P's impacts providing preliminary evidence of its adoption in Portugal. Following a case-based approach involving interviews with managers from the Portuguese construction sector, our study aims to understand Pe-P's implementation benefits and barriers in small- and medium-enterprises (SMEs). Results provide relevant information regarding factors affecting Pe-P's adoption forecasting implications for private firms, platform providers and policy makers in the 2016 full moving to Pe-P's throughout the EU.

Public versus Private Market Participants and the Prices Paid for Private Companies

AbstractThis study examines the impact of the market participant on prices paid for private companies in the Pratt’s Stats database. We examine approximately 4,200 transactions over the period of 2000–2011 for companies with sales of $1 million or more. We find that public buyers pay more after controlling for the target’s size, industry, age, estimated growth rate, and profitability, as well as the time of the transaction. We also find that smaller companies and C-corporations sell at higher multiples. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that the price paid for a company is related to whether the market participant is private or public. Further, our results provide additional insights to users of the Pratt’s Stats database regarding the characteristics of the transactions in this well-known and often-used database.

PIH86 - The Efficiency Evaluation of the Rule From Drug Market Regulation Chamber (Cmed) Proposed To Public Medicines Acquisitions

The aim of this work is measure the efficiency of this rule that established PMVG for public medicine purchase. Two lists were built, one with PMVG (PMVG databank), established by CMED, and the other list contains the public prices acquisitions before and after the enacted CAP legislation (Health Price Bank – BPS databank). The lists were separated in two groups. The first contains the prices of PMVG databank and BPS databank between 2004 and 2006 (group 1), and the second complains the prices for the period between 2007 and 2012 (group 2). The comparison of two groups, before CAP (group 1) and after CAP (group 2), was conducted by Student t-test one-tailed of the mean medicine prices (significance level of 5%, assuming unequal variances). CMED implemented The Price Adequacy Coefficient (CAP) by publishing the Resolution CMED nº 04 on 18thof December of 2006. It is a mandatory minimum discount to be applied by pharmaceutical companies and distributors in the Factory Price of medicines (PF) authorized, resulting on a public price cap (PMVG). There is no evidence of the efficiency, or the real need for this regulatory activity performed by CMED geared to the drug public acquisitions. The list resulted in a selection of 68 medicines. Fourteen (14) medicines had an average BPS price before CAP less than or equal to the average BPS price after CAP, however, only 4 were statistically significant (α ≤ 0.05). In contrast, 47 medicines had an average BPS price after CAP significantly lower or equal to the average BPS price before CAP (α ≤ 0.05). It is concluded that this CMED legislation is economic and social efficient.

An Analysis of the 2014 Moroccan Drug Price Cuts

The Moroccan government announced new public and hospital prices for 5308 drugs in April 2014. These price cuts came into force in June 2014. The study examines the price changes and analyzed the potential impact of the price cuts on pharmaceutical companies operating in the market. Standard statistical Methods were used to analyze government provided data in order to identify general trends within the pricing notification. Secondary sources were then examined to determine the general pricing rationale. The price notification included 5308 drugs (note duplication occurs where a brand name has multiple formulations). Examining public prices: 390 of the drugs were newly listed on the list for public purchase, a further 2968 saw no price increase and two drugs saw modest price increases. Public price declines were seen for 1948 drugs with the level of decline covering a range of 1635 percentages between 0.006% and 78.6%. Average public price, excluding drugs with no decline, saw an average decline of 13.6% and median decline of 6.5%. All the 5308 drugs already had an existing hospital price, however 114 of these drugs saw no pricing change. Of the 5194 drugs which did see a price decline this varied across a range of 2559 different percentages between 0.001% and 79.8%. The average hospital price decline, excluding drugs which saw no decline, was 9.3% and the median was 5.8%. The large range of pricing declines suggests that the prices were not indicative of a formulaic event such as currency fluctuation changes. This also means that there is a differential impact on pharma companies, with certain parts of their portfolio being more protected than others.

PCN166 - Economic Evaluation of Home Parenteral Nutriton in Cancer Patients; The French Context

This study aims to estimate incremental cost and utility of Home Parenteral Nutrition (HPN) in a heterogeneous group of cancer patients from the French public purchaser perspective, as compared with the same patients receiving no HPN. Two economic models, from public French perspective, were defined: a 28 day cost-utility model and a lifetime state transition model; both models were based on ecological data from an extensive literature search. Four health states were used in the second model: Home, two hospitalization states and death. Transition to death state was based on survival analysis obtained from published summary statistics from two different studies. Functional Assessment Cancer Therapy-general (FACT-g) scores, reported in a recently published French observational study, were used to compute utility weights in the intervention group by applying relevant published algorithms. In the control groups, they were computed by decrementing the baseline utility weight of the intervention group. All costs: nutrition costs, resources consumption costs, complication costs and hospitalization costs were adapted from published French studies. Both Deterministic and Probabilistic Sensitivity Analyses were performed to test uncertainty. The cost-utility ratio of HPN is estimated in 508,059 and 182,584 Euro per QALY gain, in the 28 day cost-utility model and the lifetime state transition model, respectively. DSA showed that survival in the control group and cost of the nutrition were the most influential parameters on the cost-utility ratio in both models. The probability for cost-effectiveness, considering a willingness to pay (WTP) 87,000 Euro (3XGDP per capita in France) for a QALY, was below 1% in both models. Final judgment on HPN cost-effectiveness is difficult, even if it seems to be not cost-effective according to standard WTP. The high cost-utility ratio, which declines with increasing survival benefits, should urge clinicians and policy makers to control the sources of ineffectiveness.

Supplier development and public procurement: allies, coaches and bedfellows

Purpose– Using the lens of mentoring theory the authors test the extent to which public buyers informally support suppliers and the influence of organisational context on mentoring support. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approach– Principal component analysis was used to analyse questionnaire responses from over 300 public buyers in Ireland. Cluster analysis produced three mentor profiles.Findings– The findings show a positive relationship between organisations that take a strategic approach to suppliers and buyers who offer career and psychosocial support to suppliers. However, those organisations that lack a strategic perspective of suppliers saw buyers offer political support and coaching.Research limitations/implications– The implications are that coaching and political support may compensate for deficits in organisational support for suppliers generally. The findings contribute to a growing literature on informal interaction opportunities in public procurement.Originality/value– To date research of supplier development is limited to formal developmental activities and in the context of private sector buyer-supplier relationships.

TDR Program Performance in Florida

Problem, research strategy, and findings: Transfer of development rights (TDR) programs can help manage growth through the exchange of development rights from sending areas targeted for protection to receiving areas targeted for development. We ask 1) what TDR approaches are used in Florida, and 2) which approaches effectively help communities manage growth? We identify three distinct TDR approaches, corresponding to different stages in Florida's growth management policies. Conventional TDR programs reflect Florida's early growth management policies by facilitating rural-to-urban transfers; they have had limited impact. Hybrid TDR programs reflect a smart growth orientation; they have been most successful at retiring vested development rights in areas that cannot support growth. Rural TDR programs reflect a recent focus on economic development; they have saved many acres, but too often at the expense of increased rural sprawl. Some successful programs owe their outcomes largely to public land purchases and not to private market exchanges. We conclude that most Florida TDR programs do little to manage growth, and that acres conserved is an inadequate and often misleading measure of program success.Takeaway for practice: To manage urban growth, planners must ensure that TDR programs operate in alignment with local comprehensive plans. Planners must assess the performance of TDR programs with measures other than acres preserved and adopt complementary policies that facilitate density to make TDR programs effective.

공공공사 직접구매 조달품목 재분류 및 성능기준 제안

중소기업제품 구매를 확대하여 중소기업의 경영안정을 지원하는 취지에 의해 2006년 제정된 "중소기업제품 구매촉진 및 판로 지원에 관한 법률"은 제도의 활성화를 위해 최근까지 거듭되어 개정되었다. 이에 따라 중소기업청장에 의해 지정된 설계품목에 대해 공공공사 직접구매를 의무화하였다. 그러나 120여개에 달하는 직접구매대상 품목으로 인해 품질확보 및 납기지연, 현장 자재 담당 근무자의 업무과중 등 문제가 발생하고 있다. 법의 제정 취지는 최근 정부의 대기업과 중소기업의 동반성장이라는 여건에는 부합하지만 현장에서 위법을 기반으로 근무를 하는 담당자들의 입장과 자재 품질 확보, 적기 공급, 비용상승 등을 유발하는 것으로 나타났다. 본 논문은 "공사용 자재 직접 구매제도"의 문제점 파악 및 검증을 통해 향후 효율적이고 합리적으로 적용이 될 수 있도록 기여하고자 한다. "The Law of purchasing policy for market support of small and medium business" was legislated to support small and medium industry by expanding purchase and revised consistently for the activation. And then the government made the public construction direct purchase compulsory about design items designated by president on small and medium business based on this law. However, secureing quality, tardiness and field material staff's heavy duty were arisen from approximately 120 direct market purchase items. The legislative intent of law is in accord with Win-Win growth between major company and small and medium business. However material staff who works in the field based on this law has difficulties with material securing quality, JIT(Just In Time), cost push. This study reclassified procurement items of "the direct market purchase system" reasonably and then suggested performance criteria for evaluation. The suggested result will contribute to vatalize the direct market purchase system.

ANÁLISE DO PERFIL DAS LICITAÇÕES SUSTENTÁVEIS REALIZADAS POR ORGANIZAÇÕES MILITARES DO EXÉRCITO BRASILEIRO

Responsibility for environment preservation is now a major determining theme of government and non-government actions. Nowadays, the government has started inserting the environmental question in its public policies, especially, in the acquisition of products and in hiring services. By virtue of the importance of the environmental dimension in contemporary society and the relevance of the theme over purchases and sustainable procurements, the objective of this paper consisted in analyzing the sustainable procurements conducted by military organizations of the Brazilian Army and verify the environmental criteria used in the public purchases by these institutions. To this end, this paper is structured in the following way; primarily, a bibliographic revision was conducted on public bids, government purchases and sustainable procurements. Later on, secondary data were collected from government sources. Analyses included procurements conducted by military organizations of the Brazilian Army containing environmental criteria available at site “Comprasnet”, purchasing portal of the federal government, with the aim to diagnose the characteristics of sustainable procurements carried out by the institutions. Analyzed data attested to the fact that sustainable procurements were barely represented in the acquisitions performed by the Army. Furthermore, it was ascertained that there was little variety of bid items. The most demanded environmental characteristic at the biddings was related to items made from recycled raw material. It was observed that the environmental requirements demanded at the bidding contests were not much exacting, signaling that public sustainable purchases should be implemented gradually in our national economy.

Possible source term of high concentrations of mecoprop-p in leachate and water quality: impact of climate change, public use and disposal

Mecoprop-p herbicide is often found in wells and water abstractions in many areas around Europe, the UK inclusive. There is a growing environmental and public health concern about mecoprop-p herbicide pollution in ground and surface water in England. Reviews suggest that extensive work has been carried out on the contribution of mecoprop-p herbicides from agricultural use whilst more work needs to be carried out on the contribution of mecoprop-p herbicide from non-agricultural use. The study covers two landfill sites in Weaver/Gowy Catchment. Mecoprop-p herbicide concentrations in the leachate quality range between 0.06 and 290 μg l−1 in cells. High concentration of mecoprop-p herbicide in the leachate quality suggests that there is a possible source term in the waste stream. This paper addresses the gap by exploring possible source terms of mecoprop-p herbicide contamination on landfill sites and evaluates the impact of public purchase, use and disposal alongside climate change on seasonal variations in mecoprop-p concentrations. Mecoprop-p herbicide was found to exceed the EU drinking water quality standards at the unsaturated zone/aquifer with observed average concentrations ranging between 0.005 and 7.96 μg l−1. A route map for mecoprop-p herbicide source term contamination is essential for mitigation and pollution management with emphasis on both consumer and producer responsibility towards use of mecoprop-p product. In addition, improvement in data collection on mecoprop-p concentrations and detailed seasonal herbicide sales for non-agricultural purposes are needed to inform the analysis and decision process.

Theory in public procurement research

This paper examines the role of theory in public procurement research. Theoretical rigour is integral to management science, yet little is known on the extent and form of theory in public procurement. With the field starting to mature, addressing this issue is timely. From conducting a systematic literature review we find that 29 percent of articles are theoretically grounded, with the incidence of theory having increased in recent years. Economic, sociological, psychological, and management theories are all in evidence, but micro-economic theories predominate. Our findings also show that survey reporting and case studies account for almost half of all studies; procurement research is focused on organizational-level aspects more than regulatory-policy issues or public buyers; and studies to date have largely emanated from the North American and European regions. The contribution of this paper lies in clarifying the theoretical underpinnings of public procurement. Out of this we highlight the need for greater theoretical rigour, point to the under-use and even absence of theories that could have high validity and utility, and suggest a narrowing of research foci.

GM-010 Sugammadex compared with suxamethonium/neostigmine/atropine for routine reversal of neuromuscular block in bariatric surgery: What’s the budget impact?

BackgroundThere is lack of consensus from clinical experts regarding the place of sugammadex in treatment. However, most consider that sugammadex may be useful when there is a clinical safety concern...

Prevention of Corruption in Public Purchases

Prevention of Corruption in Public Purchases

"Procedural Rules, Access of SMEs and Efficiency: Evidence from French Public Procurement"

For the last 20 years, a series of public procurement reforms has sought to enhance the efficiency of purchases by increasing public buyers’ discretionary power. Yet it has been argued that there is a lack of empirical results con- cerning the impact of such reforms on outcomes, including efficiency. In this paper, we attempt to fill this gap by studying the use of French “adapted procedures”, a tendering procedure that allows discretion to public buyers to adapt most dimensions of the procedure to their needs. Using an origi- nal dataset from a French social housing constructor, we empirically assess the use of such procedures on the two goals identified by the government (fluidification of the procurement process and access of SMEs) as well as on efficiency. We find some evidence that these procedures enable a significant reduction in the length of the tendering process (a proxy for the fluidifi- cation). We also show that they allow broader admissions of SMEs to the bidding stage. Finally, we find that these positive results do not come at a price for the public body. Implications of these results for public policies are then discussed.

New Rules forrHealthhCareeProcurementtinnthe UK..A Critical Assessmenttfrom the PerspectiveeoffEUUEconomiccLaw

The recently adopted UK National Health Service (Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition) (No. 2) Regulations 2013 include an interesting (and somehow unsettling) provision authorising anti-competitive behaviour in the commissioning of health care services by the National Health Service (NHS), if that is in the (best) interest of health care users. Generally, it seems that under the new public procurement and competition rules applicable to the NHS, whatever is considered in the “interest of patients” could trump pro-competitive requirements and allow the commissioning entity to engage in distortions of competition (either directly, or by facilitating anti-competitive behaviour by tenderers and service providers) — as long as a sort of qualitative cost-benefit analysis shows that net advantages derived from the anti-competitive procurement activity. The apparent oddity of such general “authorisation” for public buyers to engage in anti-competitive procurement of health care services deserves some careful analysis, which this paper carries out. The paper assesses Regulation 10 of the NHS Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition Regulations 2013 and the substantive guidance published by the UK's health care sector regulator (Monitor) from the perspective of EU economic law (and, more specifically, in connection to public procurement and competition rules). The paper claims that there is a prima facie potential incompatibility between Regulation 10 of the 2013 NHS Procurement, Patient Choice and Competition Regulations and both EU competition law and public procurement law — which are, in principle, opposed to any anti-competitive or competition restrictive behaviour in the conduct of public procurement activities. Consequently, there is a need for an EU law compliant, restrictive interpretation and enforcement of the provision — at least where there is a cross border effect on competition and/or a cross border interest in tendering for the health care contracts, which triggers the application of both EU competition law and public procurement law.

Court Efficiency and Procurement Performance

Disputes over penalties for breach of contract are often solved in court. A simple model shows how inefficient courts may induce public buyers to refrain from enforcing penalties for late delivery to avoid litigation, inducing sellers to delay. Using a large dataset on Italian public procurement, we then study empirically the effects of court inefficiency on public work performance. We find that, where courts are inefficient: i) public works are delivered with longer delays; ii) delays increase for more valuable contracts; iii) contracts are more often awarded to larger suppliers; iv) a higher share of the payment is postponed after delivery.