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The purpose of this paper is to show that for frequently procuring public clients: the reasoning behind the use of procurement instruments is a process in its own right that requires managerial and scientific attention; modeling this process contributes to making sensible procurement choices; and managing this process is a relevant factor in the client’s development toward strategic procurement.

A model is developed to conceptualize the reasoning behind procurement instruments. Using this model in a case study, the reasoning behind the evolution of a particular procurement instrument as applied by a public infrastructure management organization is reconstructed.

The case study results show that an initially explicitly formulated set of main reasons for operating a qualification system can implicitly evolve over time into a different set of reasons. From a managerial point of view, explication of implicit reasons is important to both avoid the risk that the real value of the procurement instrument remains undetected as well as properly assess its strategic alignment with higher level strategies. The conceptual model proves to be a useful tool to support that.

Bringing the reasoning behind the use of procurement instruments to the fore, this study explores an area of construction procurement research that is positioned between the disciplines of purchasing and supply management, knowledge management and strategic management.

The development of innovative procurement instruments can be costly and risky. To capitalize on successful innovative instruments, it is essential that these are reused. However, reuse can be problematic in project-based public client organizations. This paper aims to apply the ambidexterity concept of integration mechanisms to examine how such reuse can be facilitated.

An initial framework is developed to conceptualize and contextualize the ambidexterity integration mechanism for the procurement function of a multi-project public client. Concluding that, in this situation, an organizational procedure is an appropriate interpretation of the integration mechanism, a design science project is carried out to develop and implement a procedure in a real-life setting.

Reconstructed reuse patterns confirm the need to have an actionable integration mechanism implemented. Integration, in the sense of drawing benefits from successful one-off innovative procurement instruments, may fail unnoticed if not organized and deliberately managed. The procedure developed in the design science project demonstrates how such integration can be achieved.

Although research on ambidexterity has grown exponentially in the past decade, it is yet to be applied in the field of public procurement. Furthermore, the application of design science research is novel in this field of literature. The paper illustrates how both can help solve a relevant organizational problem.

While the need for strategic alignment in public management has been recognized, there is a lack of conceptual clarity to support its application in practice. Focusing on the specific field of public procurement, this paper clarifies and illustrates how the concept of strategic alignment can be applied when strategizing the public procurement process.

The current literature on strategic alignment in public procurement is critically reviewed to identify ambiguities that hamper its application in practice. Based on this review, an analytical framework is developed that conceptualizes strategic alignment as that between the procurement instruments used in a sourcing project and the corresponding higher-level strategies. The framework is empirically illustrated by applying it in a case study that reconstructs the procurement strategy for an innovation project

Strategic alignment in the public procurement process can be demonstrated by identifying, explicating and logically linking reasoning and trade-off decisions on competing priorities across multiple levels and dimensions of strategy

Although creating alignment between policy and public procurement practice is generally held to be important in the public management literature, it is only discussed on high levels of abstraction. This paper provides clarity by investigating alignment in greater detail.

The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the reasoning behind the development of new procurement approaches by public sector clients.

A case study approach focuses on a procurement development process by a public sector client. It investigates the reasoning behind various applications of the project alliancing concept in rail infrastructure projects over a period of 15 years. Alliancing applications are singled out and mapped against a number of criteria derived from literature on alliancing. The reasoning behind these applications and their differences are reconstructed from contextual documentation. Theories and concepts from the fields of strategic management and knowledge management literature are used to analyse the results.

The development process seems to be evolutionary rather than deliberately planned. The uncovered variations in alliancing applications can only to a very limited extent be explained by the reconstructed reasoning. This suggests that the applied designs are mostly based on implicit reasoning by individual project teams. From a strategic management perspective, the development pattern resembles the emergent type of strategy formation.

This study offers an initial insight into the reasoning processes behind the (re-)design of procurement approaches within a public sector client organization. A unique feature of this study is that these reasoning processes are explored from the strategy formation perspective that conceptually links the design of new procurement approaches to strategic management theory.