The European Commission estimates, public procurement to represent a substantial part of public investment in the European economy, amounting to approximately 14% of the whole GDP of the European Union: in concrete terms, this means that public authorities spend almost € 2 trillion of European taxpayers’ money every year. As a consequence, it is of the utmost importance that to safeguard and greater efficiency are promoted in public spending through a mindset shift among public officials and a review in the organizational models of public entities. In fact, the European Commission has elaborated in its public procurement strategy the need to focus on facilitating the aggregation of demand and increasing the professionalization of public buyers. The European Commission has even identified six priority areas for clear and concrete actions that can transform public procurement into a powerful instrument in each Member State’s economic policy toolbox, leading to substantial benefits in procurement outcomes. The first priority action is to ensure a wider uptake in strategic public procurement. Central and local governments are encouraged to respond to societal, environmental and economic objectives through a more extensive use of preliminary market consultation or qualitative assessments, as well as by means of procurement of innovative solutions. The EU Commission requires professionalization of public buyers. Public buyers must have the right skill-set that is needed to drive innovation in each and every stage of the procurement process through adequate training activities. Exchange of best practices must be promoted to stimulate improvements in the organizational culture of procuring entities in a way to counteract risk aversion and encourage strategic vision, flexible practices, knowledge of markets, and the use of innovative tools. Moreover, there is a need to improve access to procurement markets, especially by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Since SMEs have important roles in job creation, growth and innovation, they should be more vigorously involved in procurement processes, thereby increase their share in public procurement vis-à-vis their overall weight in the economy by offering them, inter alia, fair and efficient possibilities for problem solving and an independent review of procurement decisions. A strategic option is to encourage their participation in cross-border procurement through the division of the project subject for joint procurement into lots, and, thereby, drive an industrial policy for the growth of SMEs. The evolution of strategic procurement requires the use of technologies and the increase of transparency, integrity and better data for appropriate policy responses. Digital transformation opens greater opportunities to create better analytics for needs-driven policymaking. The increasing growth of available data is becoming a fundamental tool in promoting integrity in public procurement. Digitalization has helped in the development of warning systems to signal and tackle corruption, assess the performance of procurement policies, optimize the interaction between public procurement systems and shape future strategic decisions, in addition to the mapping of risks indicators. The digital transformation of procurement can be used to streamline and simplify the procurement process through the roll-out of electronic public procurement, consequently, reshape public procurement systems and organization in the wake of the digital transformation. While it is commendable that the 2014 public procurement directives already provide for the mandatory use of electronic submission of tenders by October 2018, it will be more useful if the entire public procurement process undergoes a digital transformation (i.e., e-procurement even in planning, notification, submission, invoicing, payment and archiving). A further strategic option is innovation on the organizational models for procurement. The complexity of the activities requires cooperation to procure together through the aggregation of public purchasing by Central Purchasing Bodies (CPBs) – either at a cross-border, national or sub-national level, with a general or target specific mandate (e.g. health, IT, energy). CPBs are increasingly becoming important players in promoting reforms in public procurement and in implementing a strategic approach to public purchases arising from larger procurement volumes. In fact, joint cross-border procurement or procurement where contracting authorities are from different Member States can have a huge influence on the supply chain, more particularly if there is a strong cooperation among the participating contracting authorities. The outcomes of these strategies, among others, have an deep influence in the EU and National industrial policies. Prescinding thereof, it is of great interest to focus the attention on the importance of collaborative procurement in fostering capacity and public purchasing power. Due to their different political mandates, both in policy and market levels, CPBs are uniquely positioned to implement strategic and innovative procurements. They have significant roles in the standardization of public procurement processes and market insight, which promote the professionalization and capacity-building of public administrations, as well as the overall integrity and efficiency of public spending. The importance of CBPs and other similar organizational models are even reflected in the express intention of the EU Commission to support the dissemination of good practices and promote the use of innovative procurement by CPBs and other forms of aggregation of demand. The role, therefore, of collaborative procurement in promoting innovative SMEs and stimulating their growth must be further evaluated and addressed.

Collaborative and strategic procurement for supporting industrial innovation

Gabriella M. Racca
2018-01-01

Abstract

The European Commission estimates, public procurement to represent a substantial part of public investment in the European economy, amounting to approximately 14% of the whole GDP of the European Union: in concrete terms, this means that public authorities spend almost € 2 trillion of European taxpayers’ money every year. As a consequence, it is of the utmost importance that to safeguard and greater efficiency are promoted in public spending through a mindset shift among public officials and a review in the organizational models of public entities. In fact, the European Commission has elaborated in its public procurement strategy the need to focus on facilitating the aggregation of demand and increasing the professionalization of public buyers. The European Commission has even identified six priority areas for clear and concrete actions that can transform public procurement into a powerful instrument in each Member State’s economic policy toolbox, leading to substantial benefits in procurement outcomes. The first priority action is to ensure a wider uptake in strategic public procurement. Central and local governments are encouraged to respond to societal, environmental and economic objectives through a more extensive use of preliminary market consultation or qualitative assessments, as well as by means of procurement of innovative solutions. The EU Commission requires professionalization of public buyers. Public buyers must have the right skill-set that is needed to drive innovation in each and every stage of the procurement process through adequate training activities. Exchange of best practices must be promoted to stimulate improvements in the organizational culture of procuring entities in a way to counteract risk aversion and encourage strategic vision, flexible practices, knowledge of markets, and the use of innovative tools. Moreover, there is a need to improve access to procurement markets, especially by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Since SMEs have important roles in job creation, growth and innovation, they should be more vigorously involved in procurement processes, thereby increase their share in public procurement vis-à-vis their overall weight in the economy by offering them, inter alia, fair and efficient possibilities for problem solving and an independent review of procurement decisions. A strategic option is to encourage their participation in cross-border procurement through the division of the project subject for joint procurement into lots, and, thereby, drive an industrial policy for the growth of SMEs. The evolution of strategic procurement requires the use of technologies and the increase of transparency, integrity and better data for appropriate policy responses. Digital transformation opens greater opportunities to create better analytics for needs-driven policymaking. The increasing growth of available data is becoming a fundamental tool in promoting integrity in public procurement. Digitalization has helped in the development of warning systems to signal and tackle corruption, assess the performance of procurement policies, optimize the interaction between public procurement systems and shape future strategic decisions, in addition to the mapping of risks indicators. The digital transformation of procurement can be used to streamline and simplify the procurement process through the roll-out of electronic public procurement, consequently, reshape public procurement systems and organization in the wake of the digital transformation. While it is commendable that the 2014 public procurement directives already provide for the mandatory use of electronic submission of tenders by October 2018, it will be more useful if the entire public procurement process undergoes a digital transformation (i.e., e-procurement even in planning, notification, submission, invoicing, payment and archiving). A further strategic option is innovation on the organizational models for procurement. The complexity of the activities requires cooperation to procure together through the aggregation of public purchasing by Central Purchasing Bodies (CPBs) – either at a cross-border, national or sub-national level, with a general or target specific mandate (e.g. health, IT, energy). CPBs are increasingly becoming important players in promoting reforms in public procurement and in implementing a strategic approach to public purchases arising from larger procurement volumes. In fact, joint cross-border procurement or procurement where contracting authorities are from different Member States can have a huge influence on the supply chain, more particularly if there is a strong cooperation among the participating contracting authorities. The outcomes of these strategies, among others, have an deep influence in the EU and National industrial policies. Prescinding thereof, it is of great interest to focus the attention on the importance of collaborative procurement in fostering capacity and public purchasing power. Due to their different political mandates, both in policy and market levels, CPBs are uniquely positioned to implement strategic and innovative procurements. They have significant roles in the standardization of public procurement processes and market insight, which promote the professionalization and capacity-building of public administrations, as well as the overall integrity and efficiency of public spending. The importance of CBPs and other similar organizational models are even reflected in the express intention of the EU Commission to support the dissemination of good practices and promote the use of innovative procurement by CPBs and other forms of aggregation of demand. The role, therefore, of collaborative procurement in promoting innovative SMEs and stimulating their growth must be further evaluated and addressed.
2018
La commande publique, un levrier pour l’action publique?
Dalloz
--
Unico
121
138
9782247177929
Public and strategic procurement; aggregation; integrity and efficiency principles; collaborative procurement
Gabriella M. Racca
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1716270
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