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What explains delays in public procurement decisions?

Chusu He, Alistair Milne and Ali Ataullah

Economic Modelling, 2023, vol. 121, issue C

Abstract: Delays in contractor selection are widespread and often costly in public procurement. This paper is the first thorough empirical examination of a common view held by practitioners and in the theoretical literature that negotiation as a selection process causes delay. We adapt an established framework of decision-making process in the wider organisation literature to identify the determinants of decision speed in public procurement. Employing data for all UK public procurement contracts during 2009-2015, our results using both logit models and duration analysis suggest that organisational factors (e.g. the centralisation of procurement) and contract features (e.g. contract complexity) account better for delay. We also find that the choice of simpler procurement procedures, whether these involve negotiation or not, can reduce the decision time. Such time efficiency further justifies the use of negotiation for complex contracts, where this procedure has been proved cost-efficient.

Keywords: Decision speed; Procurement; Award mechanism; Auction; Negotiation; Organisational decision making (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D91 H57 L30 L38 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:121:y:2023:i:c:s0264999323000135

DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2023.106201

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