An in-depth analysis of e-procurement use in UK construction organisations

Eadie et al (2007) show that there are many advantages in the adoption of e-procurement within a construction organisation. However, its uptake within the construction industry has been inadequately researched. Martin (2003, 2008) investigated e-procurement use across quantity surveying organisations in United Kingdom. However, the picture is not complete as other disciplines within construction are not considered. This paper seeks to address this issue. Martin (2003, 2008) does not seek to identify the sizes or spend on procurement activities by those quantity surveying organisations who have adopted the use of e-procurement. This paper investigates the correlations between size, procurement spend and adoption of e-procurement. A survey was conducted in two parts: the initial survey looked at 70 contractors in Northern Ireland which had carried out e-procurement. This was followed by the main survey, which contained a telephone survey followed by a web-based survey. The telephone survey of 775 organisations identified the amount of e-procurement in construction within the United Kingdom. This was followed by a web-based questionnaire survey of the identified organisations on e-procurement for construction based activities. These produced a breakdown of e-procurement use and spend on completion of pricing documentation across the construction industry

Evaluating Food Commodity Procurement Strategies

We use a case study approach to determine the primary factors affecting food manufacturers' commodity procurement decisions, as well as to examine the strategic nature of commodity procurement departments. The research fills a gap in both the commodity and procurement literature. A large literature exists on commodity marketing; however, very little exists on the topic of commodity procurement. Existing procurement literature tends to focus on non-commodity products rather than commodity products. The results suggest a model for the strategic role of commodity procurement departments within food manufacturers. The initial procurement strategy must be supply maintenance, which once accomplished, allows the commodity procurement department to progress to a profit-focused strategy, which is generally cost-based. Finally, the role of the commodity procurement department can expand by offering additional services to customers, such as designing promotional programs.Marketing,

Public Procurement: How open is the European Union to US firms and beyond? CEPS Policy Insights No 2020-04 / March 2020

A recent report on public procurement published by the United States Government Accounting Office (GAO) attempted to provide a range of estimates for the EU and the US, among others, and argued that the EU awarded a low share of public procurement contracts to US firms ($300 million) compared to a much higher value of US public procurement ($3 billion) awarded to EU firms (GAO 2019). However, the methodological approach used by GAO was partial and misrepresented the level of EU openness, as it only looked only at the ‘tip of the procurement iceberg’ and missed out other main avenues for international government procurement. Once these other two main procurement modes are taken into account, EU openness in procurement is much higher, vis-a-vis both for US and third countries. Overall, the EU has awarded over €50 billion worth of public contracts to foreign firms, out of which €11 billion to US firms. Comparable data across all modalities do not yet exist for the US, but we do have clear evidence that, since 2009, the US has introduced the largest number of protectionist procurement measures severely affecting international procurement

Public procurement in the EU: jurisprudence and conceptual directions

The present article reviews the emerging conceptual themes from the case law of the European Court of Justice which have triggered the revision of the public procurement Directives, and the alignment of the public procurement acquis with the Europe 2020 Growth Strategy. The Court's jurisprudence has instrumentally influenced the interpretation of public procurement legal concepts such as contracting authorities, the remit of selection and qualification criteria, the parameters for contracting authorities to use environmental and social considerations as award criteria and the principles which underpin the remedies in the award of public contracts.However, the exhaustive harmonization which is inherent in the public procurement directives has caused significant porosity and limitations in the effectiveness of the public procurement acquis. Service concessions, contracts awarded by a contracting authority to another contracting authority on the basis of exclusive rights, public-public partnerships and in-house contractual relations, and contracts which fall below the stipulated value thresholds all reflect upon the forthcoming reforms of the public procurement regime

Electronic Reverse Auctions: Spawning Procurement Innovation in the Context of Arab Culture

Government e-procurement initiatives have the potential to transform local institutions, but few studies have been published of strategies for implementing specific e-procurement tools, particularly involving procurement by a foreign government adapting to local culture in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA). This case describes procurement at a forward operating base (FOB) in Kuwait in support of operations in Iraq. The government procurers had to deal with a phenomenon unique to the MENA region: wasta. Wasta is a form of social capital that bestows power, influence, and connection to those who possess it, similar to guanxi in China. This study explores the value proposition and limitations of electronic reverse auctions (eRA) with the purpose of sharing best practices and lessons learned for government procurement in a MENA country. The public value framework provides valuable theoretical insights for the implementation of a new government e-procurement tool in a foreign country. In a culture dominated by wasta, the suppliers enjoyed the transparency and merit-based virtues of eRA’s that transferred successfully into the new cultural milieu: potential to increase transparency, competition, efficiency, and taxpayer savings. The practices provided herein are designed specifically to help buyers overcome structural barriers including training, organizational inertia, and a lack of eRA policy and guidance while implementing a new e-procurement tool in a foreign country

Exploring anti-corruption capabilities of e-procurement in construction project delivery in Nigeria

The use of electronic (e-­) procurement to support the execution of supply chain management activities in the different industrial sectors is permeating all regions of the world. However, in countries in sub-Saharan Africa where there is a significant level of corruption and unethical practices in the procurement process, there is a need for a better understanding of how e-Procurement can help to check the incidence of corrupt and unethical practices in construction project delivery. This study relied on a cross-sectional survey of 759 respondents, including architects, builders, engineers, estate/facilities managers, contractors, construction/project managers, quantity surveyors, supply chain managers and others to identify and analyse the anti-corruption capabilities of e-Procurement in construction project delivery in Nigeria. The results of the descriptive statistics, relative importance index and principal components analysis identified 18 anti-corruption capabilities in e-Procurement in construction project delivery with the three most important ones being the capability of e-Procurement to ensure good inventory management/record keeping; accountability by providing audit services trail and minimise direct human contacts during bidding. The key underlying dimensions of these capabilities include the advantage of e-Procurement over the traditional paper-based method; transparent bidding process and increase in competition in construction project delivery process. The findings of this study have implications, especially, on the use of e-Procurement to curb corruption in construction procurement activities

Industrial application experiment series

Two procurements within the Industrial Application Experiment Series of the Thermal Power Systems Project are discussed. The first procurement, initiated in April 1980, resulted in an award to the Applied Concepts Corporation for the Capital Concrete Experiment: two Fresnel concentrating collectors will be evaluated in single-unit installations at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory Parabolic Dish Test Site and at Capitol Concrete Products, Topeka, Kansas. The second procurement, initiated in March 1981, is titled, "Thermal System Engineering Experiment B." The objective of the procurement is the rapid deployment of developed parabolic dish collectors

Infrastructure transitions toward sustainability: a complex adaptive systems perspective

To ensure infrastructure assets are procured and maintained by government on behalf of citizens, appropriate policy and institutional architecture is needed, particularly if a fundamental shift to more sustainable infrastructure is the goal. The shift in recent years from competitive and resource-intensive procurement to more collaborative and sustainable approaches to infrastructure governance is considered a major transition in infrastructure procurement systems. In order to better understand this transition in infrastructure procurement arrangements, the concept of emergence from Complex Adaptive Systems (CAS) theory is offered as a key construct. Emergence holds that micro interactions can result in emergent macro order. Applying the concept of emergence to infrastructure procurement, this research examines how interaction of agents in individual projects can result in different industry structural characteristics. The paper concludes that CAS theory, and particularly the concept of ‘emergence’, provides a useful construct to understand infrastructure procurement dynamics and progress towards sustainability