Bidding for Complex Projects: Evidence From the Acquisitions of IT Services

Competitive bidding (as auctions) is commonly used to procure goods and services. Public buyers are often mandated by law to adopt competitive procedures to ensure transparency and promote full competition. Recent theoretical literature, however, suggests that open competition can perform poorly in allocating complex projects. In exploring the determinants of suppliers’ bidding behavior in procurement auctions for complex IT services, we find results that are consistent with theory. We find that price and quality do not exhibit the classical tradeoff one would expect: quite surprisingly, high quality is associated to low prices. Furthermore, while quality is mainly driven by suppliers’ experience, price is affected more by the scoring rule and by the level of expected competition. These results might suggest that (scoring) auctions fail to appropriately incorporate buyers’ complex price/quality preferences in the tender design.Procurement Auctions, Scoring Rules, IT Contracts, Price/Quality Ratio

How to Reduce Complexity in the Licensing Landscape of Standardised Technology

The innovation ecosystem is a fundamental driver of economic development and societal wellbeing. For this reason, key innovations such as 5G and IoT (Internet of Things), which are expected to bring significant benefits to our society and the world economy, should be supported by a standardization effort that allows different infrastructures, services and devices to interoperate in order to facilitate the diffusion and widespread deployment of new technologies on the market and avoid the risk of lock-in into competing, proprietary technologies. Standardization is fundamental to allow interoperability and the worldwide success of new technologies. Standardization bodies have the technical and administrative task to choose the best technology made available by innovators who participate in the standardization efforts. The latter are then rewarded for their contributions to standardization through patent licensing. However, with the ever-increasing complexity in technological standards, licensing activities are often quite complicated, and this causes friction between patent owners and implementers. The article proposes how to solve this complex situation, analysing the role of the FRAND commitment; which factors to be considered when setting a FRAND royalty rate; and how the different interests of innovators (patent owners/licensors) and implementers (licensees) should be well balanced, by means of patent pooling, or injunctions, thus promoting the level playing field that is at the core of fair market competition. This article offers insights from leading market participants who have engaged in licensing of standard essential patents, are developing frameworks to address the challenges of licensing of new technologies covering Internet of Things and application of cellular technologies in the automotive sector; and have actively litigated cases that help shape today’s negotiating process for SEPs. The first part of this article describes Europe’s ambitions in its Digital Agenda and sets out the Inventive Loop (a company’s R&D resulting in patented innovations that when standardised can be licensed for royalties that in turn fund further R&D). It then summarizes the exclusive right available to a patent owner, subject to compulsory licensing and to the holder’s FRAND promise if his innovation is essential to a standard. The article goes on to examines different methodologies for calculating a FRAND royalty rate and its application to new industrial sectors, such as through the adoption by automakers of new cellular mobility technologies. The final part of the article discusses two mechanisms to promote SEP licensing: the judicially created framework for SEP licensing negotiations (as recently set out in Sisvel v Haier) and in patent pools. It assesses a further recent judicial development – anti-suit injunctions – where the exercise of jurisdiction by one court may be harmful to the sovereignty of another. Alternative dispute resolution processes, such as arbitration, may provide a mechanism to resolve global FRAND licensing disputes and reduce these territorial conflicts. The article notes that standard setting organizations could serve as a platform to foster pool formation and to encourage arbitration

First examples of pyran based colorants as sensitizing agents of p-Type Dye-Sensitized solar cells

Three different pyran based dyes were synthesized and tested for the first time as photosensitizers of NiO based p-type dye-sensitized solar cells (p-DSSC). The molecules feature a similar molecular structure and are based on a pyran core that is functionalized with electron acceptor groups of different strength and is symmetrically coupled to phenothiazine donor branches. Optical properties of the dyes are deeply influenced by the nature of the electron-acceptor group, so that the overall absorption of the three dyes covers the most of the visible spectrum. The properties of devices based on the NiO electrodes sensitized with the investigated dyes were evaluated under simulated solar radiation: the larger short circuit current density exceeded 1mA/cm2 and power conversion efficiency as high as 0.04% could be recorded. The performances of the fabricated p-DSSC have been compared to a reference cell sensitized with P1, a high level benchmark, which afforded a photoelectrochemical activity similar to the best example of our pyran sensitized devices (1.19 mA/cm2 and 0.049%)

The Determinants of Suppliers’ Performance in E-Procurement: Evidence from the Italian Government’s E-Procurement Platform

Participation of small businesses in the market for public contracts is widely recognized as a key policy issue. It is also commonly held that the adoption of e-procurement solutions can be effective in pursuing such an objective. To this end, we analyze the transactions completed in the period 2004-2007 through the Italian Government’s e-procurement platform, that is, the marketplace managed by the Italian Public Procurement Agency (Consip S.p.A.). Although descriptive statistics indicate that micro suppliers are the most represented group of firms in the marketplace, our econometric treatment provides some evidence that the former are less successful than all other suppliers in getting public contracts. Degree of loyalty with buyers, location and the use of other MEPA negotiation tools, also emerge as relevant factors of success in the e-procurement market.E-Procurement, Small Suppliers, Request For Quotations, Performance, Public Contracts, Count Data

Effect of sodium hydroxide pretreatment of NiOx cathodes on the performance of squaraine-sensitized p-type dye-sensitized solar cells

Squaraines are full-organic dyes employed as sensitizers in ptype dye-sensitized solar cells (p-DSSC). Their absorption spectrum shows a wide tunability that ranges from visible to NIR. Sensitization in the NIR region is crucial for exploiting a particularly intense portion of the solar spectrum. In this work three squaraines will be presented and tested as sensitizers in NiO-based p-type DSSC O4_C2, O4_C4 and O4_C12). The structures of the dyes differ for the length of the alkyl side chain (C2, C4 and C12). Alkyl side chains improve the solubility of the dye, influence the extent of dye loading on the electrode and affect the overall efficiency of devices. The generally low stability of squaraines represents a critical issue in view of their employment as sensitizers of p-DSSC. Such a problem becomes even more evident when this class of molecules is bound onto an acidic surface like the one of the photocathode here employed: non-stoichiometric nickel oxide (NiOx). NiOx possesses a quite acidic character because of the high surface concentration of Ni(III) sites. To buffer the surface acidity of NiOx due to the presence of high-valence states of nickel, we considered the electrode pretreatment with sodium hydroxide (NaOH) prior to sensitization. This assures a major stability of the solar cell. At the same time the chemisorbed hydroxyl moieties act as passivating agents of the Ni(III) sites thus diminishing the surface concentration of sites for dye anchoring. © 2018 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim