Search results

Knowledge-based services (KBS) comprise a major portion of services acquired by public organizations. However, their procurement is not well managed; consequently, inefficiencies abound. Therefore, this study explores whether and how KBS can be sourced more efficiently by examining best practices and precepts from knowledge management theory. A spend analysis of one agencyʼs spend is used to identify the types of KBS procured. Interviews from 12 cases are then used to identify best practices and cost drivers in sourcing KBS. Twenty one recommendations for improving efficiency in sourcing KBS are offered. The findings suggest that potential is available from demand reduction strategies, and that public policy governing the procurement of knowledge is needed. The research concludes with theoretical implications and suggestions for future research.

This paper aims to explore selected real-world procurement fraud incidents in the US Department of Defense (DoD) and the implications of these incidents to the DoD’s contracting processes and internal controls.

This paper analyzes actual procurement fraud incidents and identifies in which phase of the contract management process the fraud occurred and which internal control component was associated with the fraud scheme.

The fraud incidents generally occurred during the source selection and the contract administration phases and involved the control activities, monitoring and control environment components of internal control.

The fraud incidents are analyzed using contract management and internal control frameworks adopted by the US Government. Recommendations are developed for improving contracting processes and internal controls as an approach to deterring and detecting procurement fraud and may be applicable to other international public procurement bodies.

Governments are ensuring auditability in public procurement as a means of improving agency governance. The research findings suggest that an emphasis on capable contracting processes and effective internal controls should be adopted for fighting procurement fraud.

Ensuring auditability in public procurement has a far-reaching effect in society. The value of capable processes and effective internal controls is gaining much attention in public agencies, as they strive for accountability, integrity and transparency in their governance processes.

By emphasizing capable processes and effective internal controls, governments can apply a strategic approach to detecting and deterring fraud and thus ensure that government monies are spent in the most effective and efficient ways.

Services acquisition in the US Department of Defense (DoD) has continued to increase in scope and dollars in the past decade with over $200 billion spent for services in 2008. In this empirical study, we conducted a web-based survey to collect primary data on management practices in services acquisition in the U. S. Navy and studied such areas as contract characteristics, management approaches, and program management issues. The paper presents summary results of our survey, implications of current management practices, and recommendations useful for improving services acquisition in the Navy.

The purpose of this paper is to show how data analytics can be used to identify areas of potential cost savings for category managers of installation-level services. Using integrated solid waste management (ISWM) as a test case, the authors also examine the impact of small business set-asides on price and contractor performance.

The authors use data analytics, specifically sequential regression, the Wilcoxon rank-sum test and ordered logistic regression to investigate the influence of service- and contracting-related variables on price and contractor performance.

The authors find that service- and contracting-related variables influence price. Specifically, they identify that a service-related variable, number of containers, significantly affects price, and that two contracting-related variables, one type of small business set-aside and the number of offers received, also significantly affect price. The authors quantify the price premiums paid for using various types of small business set-asides.

Although the findings were significant, the authors believe that the robustness of the conclusions could be enhanced if the Air Force captured more data. Additional observations would increase the generalizability of the results.

This empirical experiment demonstrates that detailed analyses are required to gain insights into services’ price drivers to craft more appropriate category management strategies for installation-level services.

This empirical study shows how historical data can be used to assess price drivers of installation-level services. It is also one of the first to quantify the impact that small business set-asides have on price.

Performance measurement has been receiving increased attention in public organizations. As performance measurement systems begin to take on a central focus by public sector organizations, the challenges of measuring and improving critical organizational processes continue to increase in importance. Furthermore, as the procurement process continues to gain critical importance in public sector organizations, the need to apply specific performance measurement methods to measure and improve the procurement processes is essential for mission success. This article introduces the Contract Management Maturity Model (CMMM) as a method for assessing, measuring, and improving an organization’s procurement processes. The results of the case study describe the organizational benefits of using a contract management maturity model as a performance measurement, as well as a process improvement method.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze an ongoing fraud case in the US Navy involving the procurement of ship-husbanding services. The fraud acts will be analyzed from three perspectives–contract life cycle, internal controls and fraud schemes.

A data search was conducted to collect publicly available documents issued by the US Department of Justice (DOJ). A content analysis was used to analyze the fraud acts by aligning them with the contracting phase, internal control component and fraud scheme category.

The majority of the fraud occurred in the contracting phases of contract administration, followed by procurement planning and then source selection. The majority of the fraud occurred because of internal control component weaknesses in the control environment followed by information and communications. The majority of the fraud was aligned with the fraud scheme of collusion, followed by billing, cost and pricing.

Because this is an ongoing investigation, additional DOJ information will become available and provide additional insight on the contracting phase, internal control component and fraud scheme.

The analysis suggests that the Navy’s lack of trained personnel, capable processes and effective internal controls result in the increased vulnerability to procurement fraud in its husbanding support services program.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to analyze fraud through the lens of auditability theory, specifically by the contracting phase and internal control component. Public agencies can enhance fraud detection and deterrence efforts by understanding how weaknesses in contracting processes and internal controls may increase an organization’s vulnerabilities for fraudulent activities.

This paper proposes a conceptual framework for the study of public procurement policy. It reviews policy-related writings by public procurement scholars and assesses these works from the perspective of their contributions to generalized understandings of public procurement policy. Selected tools and concepts from the policy sciences are applied to propose a model to illuminate unique aspects of public procurement policy in ways that will facilitate its study. The paper concludes by discussing some recent actions, trends, and issues from the U.S defense procurement sector in terms of the framework. Models such as the one proposed in this paper will contribute to enhanced approaches to procurement policy analysis by scholars, as well as to informed and sophisticated policy implementation by practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of contract management process maturity assessments in the US Navy using a process capability maturity model. The maturity model is used to benchmark an organization’s contract management process maturity and to use the assessment results to develop a road map for implementing process improvement as well as knowledge-sharing initiatives.

This is survey-based research on benchmarking contract management processes in the US Navy. A web-based assessment tool was deployed to US Navy contracting officers located at aeronautical systems, sea systems, and logistics support contracting agencies. The assessment tool consists of survey items related to the use of contracting best practices. The survey responses are then used to calculate the agency’s contract management process maturity level.

The benchmarking results reflected higher maturity levels in the pre-award contracting processes (Procurement Planning, Solicitation Planning, and Source Selection), while lower maturity levels were reflected in the post-award contracting processes (Contract Administration and Contract Closeout). The research findings related to process capability enablers also reflected higher mean scores for the pre-award processes and lower mean scores for the post-award processes. These maturity levels and process capability enabler scores reflect the extent of the implementation of contracting best practices within the Navy contracting agencies.

This research uses a purposeful sampling approach designed to acquire data on organizational contract management processes. The assessment survey was administered only to qualified Navy contracting officers. The Navy contracting agencies are responsible for procuring billions of dollars in supplies and services in support of the Navy mission. Although the assessed contracting agencies procure different types of systems, supplies, and services, the contract management processes used are common to all Navy, Army, Air Force, and other US federal government agencies. The conclusions based on the analysis of these benchmarking assessments may be applicable to Department of Defense (DoD) and other government agencies.

The findings suggest that benchmarking can be effective in measuring and improving contracting process capability within the Navy. Benchmarking contracting processes can have far-reaching effects throughout the DoD. The Under Secretary of Defense’s has mandated initiatives related to improving both pre- and post-award contracting processes. The use of these benchmarking assessments can be instrumental in tracking the achievements of these process improvement initiatives. Additionally, the US Congress is leading the push for auditability in procurement operations. By benchmarking and improving its contracting processes, the DoD will be winning the battle toward integrity, accountability, and transparency of its financial operations.

Benchmarking contracting processes can also have far-reaching effects in society. Many governments are focussing on integrity, accountability, and transparency in public procurement. International organizations such as Transparency International (TI) have identified process capability and process integrity as key for reducing the potential for procurement-related fraud, waste, and abuse. Additionally, NATO member countries and partner nations are focussing on the value of assessing and improving procurement processes for strengthening transparency and accountability. The value of benchmarking and improving contracting processes is gaining much attention in global public procurement agencies as they strive for accountability, integrity, and transparency in their governance processes.

There are multiple reports on deficiencies in DoD’s contract management processes, identifying poor contract planning, and Contract Administration as just some of the critically deficient areas. In response, the DoD is increasing its emphasis on developing its workforce competence through education initiatives. However, very little attention is being paid to benchmarking contract management processes. This research reflects the value of benchmarking DoD’s contract management process maturity and using the results for implementing process improvement initiatives. Using process benchmarking data, agencies can identify process improvement initiatives that will ensure government tax dollars are spent in the most effective and efficient ways.

The purpose of this research is to explore the effects of supplier selection method on key procurement outcomes such as procurement lead time (PLT), supplier performance and buyer team size.

Data were collected from a sample of 124 archival contract records from the US Department of Defense. A multiple regression model and multivariate analysis of covariance/analysis of covariance models were used to test the effects of source selection method on pertinent procurement outcomes.

The trade-off (TO) source selection method increases PLT, as does the number of evaluation factors and the number of proposals received. Substantially larger sourcing teams are also associated with the TO source selection method. Nonetheless, the TO method results in better supplier performance.

TO source selections yield superior supplier performance than low-bidder methods. However, they are costly in terms of time and personnel. Any assessment of supplier value should consider not only the price premium for higher performance but also the transaction costs associated with the TO method.

Very little research addresses a buying team’s evaluation of supplier-offered value ex ante and whether that value assessment materializes into actual value-added supplier performance. Low bidder tactics are pervasive, but price (i.e. sacrifice) is only one component of value. Benefits from superior supplier performance may yield greater overall value. If value is critical to the buyer, a TO source selection method – versus a low-bidder approach – is the appropriate tool because of higher supplier performance ex post.

The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of publications in the Journal of Public Procurement (JoPP) from 2001 to 2021. The study provides insights into trends in publications, prominent publication themes, influential authors, institutions and countries that have prominently been associated with the journal’s journey.

The study used a bibliometric and content analysis approach using the VOSviewer software to develop insights into the trends, structures and patterns in publications in the journal. Data for the study was extracted from the Scopus and Google Scholar databases.

The study established that there has been consistent growth in the number of papers published by the journal within the last two decades. Yearly average publication by the journal stood at 14 papers between 2002 and 2009, with the annual average rising to approximately 18 papers between 2010 and 2021. The trend in publication has been established and identified the influential citations and contributors to the journal. The study has also clustered out the thematic structures in journal’s publications. The prominent and emerging research issues in the public procurement environment needing immediate research attention have been highlighted.

The study is a one-journal bibliometric analysis and subsequently ignores publications on public procurement from other journals.

The findings of this study highlight to the research community the contributions of JoPP to the public procurement discourse and present important avenues for future research agenda.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first bibliometric study for the JoPP, providing detailed bibliometric indexes of the 21-year period of the journal’s publications. The study comprehensively analyses the contributions in the JoPP to assess the trend and scope in publications in the field of public procurement and draws attention to emerging concerns and critical issues of neglect requiring research attention in the journal.