Public procurement re-examined
| Pages | 9-50 |
| Published date | 01 April 2001 |
| Date | 01 April 2001 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JOPP-01-01-2001-B001 |
| Author | Khi V. Thai |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management,Politics,Public adminstration & management,Government,Economics,Public Finance/economics,Texation/public revenue |
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT, VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1, 9-50 2001
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT RE-EXAMINED
Khi V. Thai*
ABSTRACT. Academically, public procurement has been a neglected area of
study even though governmental entities and public procurement practitioners
have diligently worked to improve public procurement practices. This article
will identify common elements of public procurement knowledge through a
brief analysis of the literature and will provide a summary of government efforts
to improve public procurement practices. In addition, this article will
comprehensively re-examine public procurement by using a systems approach
as a method of inquiry. Finally, implications of the proposed public
procurement system regarding future research and study will be discussed.
INTRODUCTION
In the public finance literature, government is involved in four major
economic activities: (a) providing the legal framework for all economic
activities, (b) redistributing income through taxation and spending; (b)
providing public goods and services freely available to the public such as
national defense, public safety, education, and infrastructure (bridges and
roads); and (c) purchasing goods, services and capital assets.1 In 1914,
the Rockefeller Foundation funded a series of intensive studies regarding
problems of public administration. Government procurement,2 as one of
four major economic activities of government, was also included in the
study. As a result, a 275-page book, Principles of Government
Purchasing, was published in 1919. Since then, there have been many
developments in government procurement practices, including (a)
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* Khi V. Thai, Ph.D., is a Professor, School of Public Administration, Florida
Atlantic University. His teaching and research interests are in public
budgeting, financial management, government procurement and health care.
Copyright © 2001 by PrAcademics Press
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT REEXAMINED 10
numerous government procurement reforms; (b) the emergence of public
procurement professional associations such as the National Institute of
Governmental Purchasing, Inc. (NIGP) and the National Associations of
State Procurement Officers (NASPO); and (c) training programs
delivered by NIGP, NASPO, the Federal Acquisition Institute, and the
U.S. Defense Acquisition University.
Although public procurement is perceived as a major function of
government, and although governmental entities, policy makers and
public procurement professionals have paid a great deal of attention to
procurement improvements or reforms, public procurement has been a
neglected area of academic education and research. Indeed, no member
of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and
Administration offers a public procurement program even though over
103 colleges and universities offer courses, certificate programs,
bachelor, master and Ph.D. in business programs with emphasis in
purchasing, materials management, logistics, supply management, or
related areas (Anonymous, 2000).
While governmental entities and public procurement professional
associations have published numerous procurement reports and training
texts, public procurement has been a neglected area of research interest
by academicians. Recognizing the importance of academic research,
NIGP has undertaken a series of academic initiatives by signing a
partnership agreement with Florida Atlantic University’s College of
Architecture, Urban and Public Affairs in 1999. As a result of this
agreement, the Public Procurement Research Center was created in 2000
(Carter & Grimm, 2001); a text writing project is in progress for fourteen
scholarly books in the field of public procurement; a special symposium
on public procurement was published in two continuous issues of the
Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management
(Volume 12, Issues 2 and 3, 2000); and particularly the publication of the
first scholarly journal in the field of public procurement, the Journal of
Public Procurement.3
In general, government and public procurement professional
organizations have worked to make the public procurement workforce
more and more professional. Recently, the focus of these organizations
has been on the professional status of public procurement.4
PUBLIC PROCUREMENT REEXAMINED 11
Instead of debating whether government procurement is a profession,
this article will re-examine the scope of public procurement. First, it
identifies common elements of public procurement knowledge through a
brief analysis of the literature and provides a summary of government
efforts to improve public procurement practices. Then public
procurement will be examined from the traditional or institutional
perspective of systems approach; as such, public procurement is viewed
as a system that is comprised of many elements. For analytical purposes,
the institutional perspective of the systems approach holds all elements
of the public procurement system constant. In reality, after these
elements are assembled in a public procurement system, the system
becomes dynamic and complicated. These “real-time” dynamics will be
explored in a forthcoming article (Thai, forthcoming). Finally,
implications of the proposed public procurement system will be
discussed for future research and study.
OVERVIEW OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT
Public Procurement Knowledge: Tracing Past Practices and
Concerns
Public procurement has a long history. Written on a red clay tablet,
found in Syria, the earliest procurement order dates from between 2400
and 2800 B.C. The order was for “50 jars of fragrant smooth oil for 600
small weight in grain” (Coe, 1989, p. 87). Other evidence of historical
procurement includes the development of the silk trade between China
and a Greek colony in 800 B.C.
In the United States, according to Page (1980), government
procurement at the municipal level predates that of state and federal
governments. In the settlements and colonies, printing was one of a few
services contracted out by government. But there were no professional
procurement officials; goods and services needed by government were
supplied by commissioners or commissaries, who received a commission
on what they bought for the militia or other administrative units. It was
not until the late 1800s that state legislatures began to create boards or
bureaus responsible for purchasing, but central purchasing was hardly a
practice at that time. In 1810, Oklahoma was the first state government to
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