Public procurement in the slow lane

A recent European discussion paper claims that governments worldwide are behind the private sector when it comes to e-procurement systems.

E-procurement systems are only in place in Austria, Denmark, Italy and the UK. However, the European Commission estimates that less than 5% of public procurement contracts are conducted via the internet.

The Procurment Intelligence Unit (PIU) has reported that the government of Albania conducts 100% of its public contracting via electronic means. Yet, the Balkans country is very much the exception and the majority of public purchasing across the world is still managed through paper.

This therefore leads to the proposition of why buyers in the public sector are tracking so far behind procurement staff in the private sector.

Jonathan Webb of the PIU believes there are a number of reasons for this.

“Firstly, the size of projects within the government sphere are simply much larger than any of their commercial equivalents,” Webb said.

“Secondly, there is perhaps a certain disdainfulness in the public sector towards administrative activities. As one procurement staffer previously told me, "the public sector is all about policy, if you are not in policy, you are nothing. The government's brightest minds are more gripped by greater issues: economic growth and the health of the nation. Relatively mundane matters such as an electronic purchase requisition form pale into insignificance. Yet, the net result is procurement inefficiency,” he said.

Webb suggests that the European Commission would be better served spending its time by encouraging states to develop their own e-procurement capacity, as opposed to building an expensive system which transcends them.

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