Procuring infrastructure for international sporting events: mapping the field for IPACS and beyond

This article presents the results of a study of infrastructure procurement for international sporting events. The objective was to map both the institutional frameworks and the procedures and governance mechanisms. We were concerned only with the acquisition process and not with prior decisions on whether to host events, what to procure (such as the number and siting of stadiums) or subsequent maintenance. The aim was to provide information relevant to studying the implementation of procurement objectives and the risks to attaining those objectives and to lay the foundations for further work. The study originated in work by the authors in collaboration with the OECD to assist the International Partnership Against Corruption in Sport (IPACS) in managing integrity risks, but also provides a map that can facilitate future study of other issues, such as sustainability. The study sought to map procurement for key sport-specific infrastructure (such as stadiums and swimming pools) and a sample of other infrastructure (sport-specific, sport-related – such as athlete accommodation – and/or other infrastructure procured for the event (such as transport facilities) for 14 international events. It covered events of various sizes and types in the ten-year period to 2018, using public sources. Study data from the first ten projects above was used as the basis for the 2019 IPACS report on procurement standards and risk management in procuring infrastructure for sporting events (IPACS report). That report analysed the aggregate data to identify and analyse integrity risks and make concrete proposals for mitigating them. This article supplements the IPACS report by giving more information on the methodology; providing data from four additional projects, which offer further evidence and insights; and presenting the key information through a project-based, as well as aggregate, approach, to place it in context