Public Procurement: Theory, Practices and Tools

This upper-level open access textbook uses an interdisciplinary perspective to discuss the ‘what and why’ of public procurement, providing insight into the ‘how’ of contemporary procurement in the public sector. The authors use theories and exemplary practices to show the next generation of public procurement professionals how public value can be created via the acquisition of works, supplies, or services by organizations operating in the public domain. Perfectly tailored to university students in public administration, law, economics, or management and those in executive education, the book first describes and explains the public procurement process, the concept of public value, the legal context of procurement and how the procurement function is organized in public organizations. The book subsequently explains how a procurement policy can be developed and translated into a procurement strategy, how tenders can be organized, suppliers selected, and contracts designed and evaluated. Afinal discussion chapter addresses the changes and developments in public procurement and how public procurement is moving forward. The reader of this innovative and accessible book will therefore not only learn what public procurement entails, but also how they can become a professional change agent in the field of public procurement. Forward-thinking and comprehensive, this book offers ideal reading for anyone interested in public procurement.

Jolien Grandia is Assistant Professor of Public Management at the Department of Public Administration and Sociology, Erasmus University Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Her research examines transformations in public procurement, such as sustainable procurement, from a public management and governance perspective. 

Leentje Volker is a Full Professor of Integrated Project Delivery at the University of Twente, the Netherlands. She is an expert in the field of public-private collaborations in the construction industry. Her work focuses on establishing and maintaining relations between buyers and suppliers at different institutional levels.