The challenges of procurement process for the department of correctional services: The road to procurement process

This study aims to determine the procurement process challenges for improving the Department of Correctional Services (DCS). All the participants recruited by the researcher were not forced to participate or sign the consent form. The researcher considered only voluntary participation and the participants were requested to sign the POPI Act consent forms before conducting the face-to-face interview. The study adopted a qualitative research methodology to get a comprehensive and deeper understanding of the challenges and effects of the procurement process. Information was collected from the key informants using Face-to-face interviews;the key informants were possible suppliers, chief executors, executors, and directors. Managers specializing in the procurement field and potential suppliers were chosen as respondents to obtain sentiments toward the procurement process. The study established that (DCS) is one of the national departments faced with the challenges of improving the procurement process. Hence the case study focuses on procurement process challenges for the improvement of the DCS. The study concluded that most of the fruitless, wasteful and irregular, and unauthorized expenditures incurred in DCS are caused by a lack of availability of resources such as employment finances and a lack of technology due to resistance to change from the top management to the lower level..

Benefits and Barriers of Digital Procurement: Lessons from an Airport Company

Implementing a well-integrated procurement system and applying uniform practices to achieve the strategic goals of any company is a complex phenomenon. Navigating the digital procurement systems in achieving supply-chain resilience remains a predicament. Framed within the technology acceptance model (TAM), which is a key model in understanding the predictors of human behaviour toward the potential acceptance or rejection of the technology. This study explored the benefits and barriers of digital procurement at Airports Company South Africa (ACSA). A qualitative approach in a form of a single holistic case study design was adopted. The sample involved 18 employees and individuals who were supply chain management (SCM), information technology (IT), and programme management office (PMO) professionals. Semi-structured interviews conducted focused on those with extensive experience on procurement, digital technologies, procurement automation or the implementation of transformation programmes. Digital procurement is a value-adding function at ACSA with the possibilities of providing cost reduction in the supply chain. However, the participants highlighted job losses, cyber security, lack of interoperability, lack of skills and system downtimes as obstacles affecting the adoption of digital procurement and as organizational barriers. The infusion of digital technologies into various aspects of organisational processes and outcomes remains a complex, dynamic, fluid, and volatile phenomenon. A framework highlighting critical focus areas when it comes to the adoption of digital procurement of digitalization is presented.

BREXIT AND OUTLOOK FOR A U.S.-UK FREE TRADE AGREEMENT *

Brexit introduced new exporting and importing licensing requirements, border checks, and regulatory compliance requirements, raising costs and the potential for bottlenecks at borders. For financial services, which account for 7% of UK GDP and one million jobs, the deal does not address UK financial services firms' access to the EU, which previously was through a "passporting" right that allowed banks to use their UK bases to access EU markets without establishing legally separate subsidiaries;the parties aim to establish a framework for cooperation by March 2021. U.S. and other exporters will need to manage separate customs regimes and relationships for the UK and EU. Since the transition period, the UK has engaged in negotiations to replicate existing EU trade deals with non-EU countries (e.g., Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, South Korea, and Turkey), and pursued new deals with countries with which the EU has not concluded trade deals (e.g., Australia, India, and the United States). [...]UK farmers and some in civil society voice concerns about the implications of U.S. demands for greater access to the UK market, and potential changes to UK food safety regulations.

INFLUENCE OF CONSTRUCTION COST INCREASE ON REAL ESTATE PRICE INCREASE – FOCUS ON ZAGREB IN 2022

During last decade there is a constant increase in number of new properties built in Zagreb. There is a large number of new residences, as well as business buildings constructed, with a direct impact on revenue increase of construction companies working in Zagreb area. Regardless of the fact that number of Zagreb population has not changed significantly in last decade, there is an increase of new buildings followed by significant price increase of real estate, especially during last five years. Lack of commercial, or business buildings in Zagreb, as well as workplace deficit in Slavonia have an impact on demand growth in Zagreb real estate sector. With additional flow of Croatian students to Zagreb, demand for quality accommodation has a direct impact on real estate selling price. Recently there was a significant price increase of material and labor, which had additional impact of real estate price increase. Goal of this paper is to analyze available public data that represents material price change, as well as to analyze financial reports of biggest construction companies from Zagreb area. Analyzed data should display impact of material and labor price increase on real estate price increase, and what could be anticipated in following years.

Greece ∙ Revisiting the Public Procurement Directives After the Pandemic

Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights must be interpreted as precluding national legislation which requires a litigant lodging an application for an interlocutory injunction or an action for review to pay flat-rate court fees of an amount impossible to foresee, where the contracting authority has opted for a procedure for the award of a public contract without prior publication of a contract notice or, as the case may be, without subsequent publication of a contract award notice, with the result that it can be impossible for the litigant to ascertain the estimated value of the contract and the number of separately contestable decisions adopted by the contracting authority on the basis of which those fees were calculated. [...]that litigant can be unable to foresee the amount of the flat-rate fees which he or she must pay. 102. […] [...]national legislation which requires a litigant to pay flat-rate court fees of an amount that is impossible to foresee before that person lodges his or her application for an interlocutory injunction or action for review makes it practically impossible or excessively difficult for him or her to exercise his or her right to an effective remedy, and therefore infringes Article 47 of the Charter, including where that amount represents only a tiny fraction of the value of the contract(s) concerned. [...]facing a situation of apparent opacity and no prior publication, the Court decided to directly apply Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, even though the Public Procurement Directives alone regulate review procedures in a more restrictive way. The document draws the attention of awarding authorities to the following points: (a.) the rules allowing for negotiated procedure without prior publication are to be interpreted restrictively, (b.) the burden of proof that extraordinary circumstances occur is borne by the contracting authority, (c.) Member States are prohibited from passing national laws that make more flexible the Directives' requirements for public procurement through negotiated procedures without prior publication, (d.) negotiated procedures without prior publication are permitted only under the conditions prescribed by the Directives, and strictly after providing full and special reasoning for the use of such an awarding procedure, (e.) according to Greek law 4412/2016, the conditions prescribed by the Directives for the use of negotiated procedure without prior publication do apply regardless of contract's value, (f.) European Commission has already launched EU PILOT proceedings against Member States for illegally awarding contracts by use of negotiated procedure without prior publication, (g.) obligations arising from Directive 2014/24 article 50, regarding the notification of contract's conclusion, are still valid, (h.) before using negotiated procedure without prior publication, greek public bodies are obliged to ask for Hellenic Single Public Procurement Authority's agreement.

Greece ∙ Revisiting the Public Procurement Directives After the Pandemic

Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights must be interpreted as precluding national legislation which requires a litigant lodging an application for an interlocutory injunction or an action for review to pay flat-rate court fees of an amount impossible to foresee, where the contracting authority has opted for a procedure for the award of a public contract without prior publication of a contract notice or, as the case may be, without subsequent publication of a contract award notice, with the result that it can be impossible for the litigant to ascertain the estimated value of the contract and the number of separately contestable decisions adopted by the contracting authority on the basis of which those fees were calculated. [...]that litigant can be unable to foresee the amount of the flat-rate fees which he or she must pay. 102. […] [...]national legislation which requires a litigant to pay flat-rate court fees of an amount that is impossible to foresee before that person lodges his or her application for an interlocutory injunction or action for review makes it practically impossible or excessively difficult for him or her to exercise his or her right to an effective remedy, and therefore infringes Article 47 of the Charter, including where that amount represents only a tiny fraction of the value of the contract(s) concerned. [...]facing a situation of apparent opacity and no prior publication, the Court decided to directly apply Article 47 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, even though the Public Procurement Directives alone regulate review procedures in a more restrictive way. The document draws the attention of awarding authorities to the following points: (a.) the rules allowing for negotiated procedure without prior publication are to be interpreted restrictively, (b.) the burden of proof that extraordinary circumstances occur is borne by the contracting authority, (c.) Member States are prohibited from passing national laws that make more flexible the Directives' requirements for public procurement through negotiated procedures without prior publication, (d.) negotiated procedures without prior publication are permitted only under the conditions prescribed by the Directives, and strictly after providing full and special reasoning for the use of such an awarding procedure, (e.) according to Greek law 4412/2016, the conditions prescribed by the Directives for the use of negotiated procedure without prior publication do apply regardless of contract's value, (f.) European Commission has already launched EU PILOT proceedings against Member States for illegally awarding contracts by use of negotiated procedure without prior publication, (g.) obligations arising from Directive 2014/24 article 50, regarding the notification of contract's conclusion, are still valid, (h.) before using negotiated procedure without prior publication, greek public bodies are obliged to ask for Hellenic Single Public Procurement Authority's agreement.

The Pandemic - The Disease of the Underground Economy

In the current international pandemic context, the risks of the underground economy through its most perverse forms, corruption, undeclared work, tax evasion, etc., have been greatly exacerbated by urgently favouring the restriction of freedoms, the infusion of important resources into the economy and not least the interest of Pharma. The turbulent and unprepared international framework has created the premise that in this unfortunate period an activity in the underground economy that influences all its forms, namely corruption, will flourish. According to press reports, the sale of masks, medicines and anti-pandemic health products was a real El Dorado of Romania. Fabulous surcharge purchases made by UNIFARM are known, as well as worldwide, according to a World Bank report, due to the elimination of normal public procurement control filters. The pandemic generated by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, both globally and nationally, has had various influences on the underground economy, some favorable for the public sector but most unfavourable for the private sector.

Theme-based Book Review: Business, Government, and Neoliberalism

This theme-based book review considers four recent titles related to the intersection of business and government: Outsourcing in the UK: Politics, Practices and Outcomes, by Janice Morphet;Public Financial Management in the European Union: Public Finance and Global Crises, by Marta Postula;Handbook of Business and Public Policy, edited by Aynsley Kellow, Tony Porter, and Karsten Ronit;and European Public Procurement: Commentary on Directive 2014/24/EU, edited by Roberto Caranta and Albert Sanchez-Graells.

Predicting politicians’ misconduct: Evidence from Colombia

Corruption has pervasive effects on economic development and the well-being of the population. Despite being crucial and necessary, fighting corruption is not an easy task because it is a difficult phenomenon to measure and detect. However, recent advances in the field of artificial intelligence may help in this quest. In this article, we propose the use of machine-learning models to predict municipality-level corruption in a developing country. Using data from disciplinary prosecutions conducted by an anti-corruption agency in Colombia, we trained four canonical models (Random Forests, Gradient Boosting Machine, Lasso, and Neural Networks), and ensemble their predictions, to predict whether or not a mayor will commit acts of corruption. Our models achieve acceptable levels of performance, based on metrics such as the precision and the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve, demonstrating that these tools are useful in predicting where misbehavior is most likely to occur. Moreover, our feature-importance analysis shows us which groups of variables are most important in predicting corruption.

BULGARIA AS AN ATTRACTIVE DESTINATION FOR GERMAN INVESTORS

After the political and socio-economic changes that occurred three decades ago, the interest in Bulgaria by foreign investors has grown. The traditionally good political, cultural and trade relations between Bulgaria and Germany, dating back to the end of the 19th century, were resumed. Trade exchange between the two countries, albeit with certain fluctuations, is constantly growing and in 2021 it is almost 10 billion euros. German investments in Bulgaria are also growing. About 30% of the 100 largest investors in Bulgaria are German or with German participation. German investments are evenly allocated to industries and regions of the country. The paper emphasizes the advantages that Bulgaria has and can offer to German investors, as well as the challenges that must be solved both at the country level and at the business level.

EU Public Procurement Policy During Covid-19: A Turning Point for Legitimate EU Governance?

Public procurement is a policy area located between two contradictory tendencies. On the one hand, the European Commission strives for greater competition to widen procurement markets. On the other hand, the boosting of competition encounters resistance among the member states. This article investigates how these colliding tendencies played out during the initial stages of the Covid-19 crisis and, more specifically, how changes in the field of procurement affected legitimate governance in the EU. Based on institutionalist and EU governance theories, the study contributes to the literature with three principal findings. First, it demonstrates that the pandemic enabled exogenously driven changes in the field of public procurement with new policies and guidelines, while the EU’s overall aims in this field were upheld. Second, the study demonstrates that the Commission was the main driver of change and that it enhanced the harmonisation of procurement rules and supranational integration despite the crisis. Third, while these changes strengthened the role of supranational actors, the study demonstrates that the changes introduced allow member states increased flexibility when it comes to the implementation. In practice, however, this flexibility has the potential to undermine the EU’s initial aims, thereby jeopardising the EU’s legitimacy.

Examining year-end spending spikes in the European Economic Area: a comparative study of procurement contracts

Purpose>The purpose of this study is to analyze year-end spending practices in the European Economic Area (EEA) to baseline the pervasiveness of year-end spending spikes across countries in Europe.Design/methodology/approach>The Tenders Electronic Daily dataset is used to descriptively analyze above-threshold procurement contracts by country, year and contract type from 2009 to 2018. Proportional distributions are employed to compare percentages of spend across quarters. Analyses are run within each country on the number of years displaying a fourth quarter spike, as well as within each country and contract type.Findings>The results show that while spending spikes for above-threshold contracts in the final fiscal quarter are not consistent across all countries, patterns emerge when the data are disaggregated by country. The most populous nations in the EEA are more likely to have years with the highest proportion of fiscal spend occurring in the fourth quarter. Further, the type of contract makes a difference – services and supplies contracts are more likely to display fourth quarter spikes than works contracts.Originality/value>This article provides the first analysis of the year-end spending spike across countries in Europe using procurement data, as well as the first to disaggregate by year and contract type. Findings support the literature on the presence of year-end spikes;such spikes exist even for above-threshold public procurement contracts.

DUE TO THE OVERMACHT LAW IN GOODS AND SERVICES PROCUREMENT CONTRACTS DURING THE 2019 CORONA VIRUS DISEASE PANDEMIC

The Covid-19 pandemic has had a wide-ranging impact on the implementation of the procurement of goods and services throughout Indonesia. The performance of the procurement of Government goods and services by the debtor cannot be carried out in accordance with the contract agreement. Presidential Decree No. 12 of 2020 which states the Covid-19 pandemic as a non-natural national disaster becomes the legal basis and solution. Testing the overmacht criteria in the Covid-19 pandemic, the Covid-19 pandemic has met the criteria as an iovermacht. Negotiations are needed between debtors and creditors, as well as continuing to base on Article 1244, Article 1245, Article 1444 and Article 1445 of the Civil Code of the Republic of Indonesia in resolving the failure to implement the procurement of goods and services during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Public procurement – price-taker or market-shaper?

Purpose>This paper examines the role of government procurement as a social policy mechanism within a multilateral open trading system. Government regulations globally are being transformed to foster more responsible business conduct in multinational enterprises (MNEs). Yet, concern that sustainability may present a discriminatory barrier to trade has stalled the progress of sustainable public procurement (SPP) at the international level, raising questions regarding the role and scope of the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) to align taxpayer-funded contracts with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals.Design/methodology/approach>With a focus on social sustainability, this paper reviews the grey and academic literature to assess the changing landscape of public procurement policy and supply chain legislation in high-income countries.Findings>Frontrunner nations are adopting a mandatory approach to sustainable public procurement and due diligence legislation is elevating supply chain risk from reputational damage to legal liability. While technological innovation and the clean, green production of manufactured goods dominates the sustainable public procurement literature, the social aspects of sustainability poverty, inequality and human rights remain underrepresented.Research limitations/implications>The scope of this paper is limited to the examination of government procurement covered by the WTO-GPA (2012). Smaller value contracts, under the WTO-GPA thresholds and the category of defence are beyond the scope of the paper.Social implications>The paper focusses on the underserved topic of social sustainability in business-to-government (B2G) – business to government – supply chains arguing that for responsible business conduct to become a competitive advantage, it must be more meaningfully rewarded on the demand-side of all taxpayer-funded contracts in organisation for economic co-operation and development countries. The paper introduces the idea of priceless procurement as a mechanism to build system capacity in the evaluation of non-financial sustainability objectives.Originality/value>To build the capacity to stimulate competition based on social and environmental policy objectives, the paper introduces the concept of priceless procurement in B2G contracts.

A Feasibility Study of Developing eLCV Shared Architecture in Taiwan

Vehicle electrification has become an important strategy adopted worldwide, including in Taiwan, as a means to achieving net zero emissions. Taiwan is capable of building a whole light commercial vehicle and has technological strength in producing critical EV parts. This study applies the Bass diffusion model to assess the feasibility of developing eLCV shared architecture in Taiwan and estimates that the annual replacement demand for eLCVs could reach 20,221 units. This exceeds the threshold number of 5000 units, which could motivate the automakers to develop eLCV shared architecture. The simulation result shows that achieving full market penetration would take at least 13 years and would be highly correlated with policy support, the vehicle selling price and the battery pack price. The B2B model is a suitable way of introducing eLCVs into the logistics fleets. In the initial promotion phase, policy support and complementary measures would be needed, e.g., public sectors’ purchases, financial incentives and constructing a user-friendly environment. The simulation results further indicate that Taiwan’s eLCV market has a high price elasticity, and in the future, a tendency for the battery pack price to decline may speed up the replacement process.

Greece ∙ Upgrading the National Framework

[...]Law 4412/2016 reflected in many aspects the initial embarrassment of national market before modern public procurement norms. [...]partly due to political conditions and partly due to pandemic urgency, procurement stakeholders in Greece pressed decision-makers for deeper understanding and integration of the directives. [...]during the past year Greece has made significant steps towards the upgrade of the national framework. [...]by virtue of l. 4782/2021: (a.) contracts with an estimated budget up to €2,500 are now named ‘minor value contracts’ and can be therefore awarded without the duty to follow existing administrative procedure,5 (b.) the threshold for direct awards is raised from €20,000 to €30,000,6 (c.) ‘informal tender process’ for the award of contracts with an estimated budget up to €60,000 is abolished, (d.) the mandatory implementation of the digital National Public Procurement System (ESIDIS/ΕΣΗΔΗΣ) is expanded to awarding procedures of contracts with a value of more than €30,000 instead of the former limit of more than €60,000,7 (e.) the duty to submit European Single Procurement Document (ESPD/ΕΕΕΣ) is expanded to all awarding procedures, in replacement of the respective (TEYD/ΤΕΥΔ) document that was used for contracts with an estimated value of less than €60,000, (f.) for their participation to be valid, all economic operators will have to file the respective letter of guarantee until the deadline for the submission of tenders, (g.) the previous conduct8 of economic operators will be recorded to a special database which will be accessible to all awarding authorities, (h.) the amount of good performance bond is reduced to 4% of the contract value for goods and services, while it is set at 5% of the contract value for works,9 (i.) in case of capacity lending, contracting authorities shall set a 30-day-deadline for the replacement of a third party, if the lenders do not meet the eligibility requirements or are they subject to obligatory exclusion,10 (j.) in most economically advantageous tender in terms of cost procedures, contracting authorities shall be entitled to issue a single decision for their evaluation validating the results of all stages of the process11,12 (k.) in most economically advantageous tender in terms of quality procedures, contracting authorities are entitled to structure the process in two stages, where participation documentation is evaluated jointly with technical offer and financial offer is evaluated jointly with awarding documentation,13 (l.) provided that equal treatment and transparency principles are observed, awarding authorities may not only ask for clarification, but even for supplementary information or for documentation missing,14 (m.) especially for works: (i.) tender processes may begin before the issuance of Environmental Terms Approval15, (ii.) awarding authorities may allow for works supervision that certified private professionals be hired,16 (iii.) in case of early delivery of the work, contracting authority may pay a prim amounting up to 5% of contract value,17 (iv.) depending on the rules set in the Call, economic operators may be allowed to form consortia after the award of the contract, (v.) for contracts whose value exceeds the €10 million recourse to arbitration shall be possible subject to pertinent clause being included in contractual documentation.18 By introducing such rules, l. 4782/2021 is expected to speed up procedures, to raise competitiveness, to trigger further digitisation of public procurement and finally to facilitate the access of small and medium enterprises to the market of public supplies, works and services. In 2020’s Greece, according to the National Public Procurement Database [ppp.eaadhsy.gr], public authorities awarded contracts worth about: €4.1 billion for the purchase of works, €2.4 billion for the purchase of services and €3.1 billion for the purchase of goods. [...]the main problem of Greece’s public procurement market, affecting also the relative legal framework, is the small size of public budget spent on contracts.