Fulfilling public procurement expectations in India

Abstract

Research by Clausen et al [8] underscored that in order to operate effectively, public institutions must inspire confidence in those they serve. The low level of confidence of Indians and world community in the transparency and efficacy of the government machinery is reflected in the Transparency [46] and competitive rankings [49] which preclude effective utilization of public funds [33]. Research by Kimberley [24] underscores the importance of e-Governance mechanisms to free and fair trade, particularly through Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) interoperability and interconnectivity, data sharing through international standards and process transparency. In view of these issues and other tangible and intangible benefits, Government of India launched National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) in 2006 to promote e-Gov services within the country. E-Procurement was included in NeGP as an Integrated Mission Mode Project (MMP) [36]. However, in the absence of enabling legal framework, eprocurement implementations in India have not been able to fully realize the potential of the system like greater transparency, costeffectiveness etc. The emerging issues of public procurement like balancing Social, Environmental and Economic considerations are also difficult to address in the prevailing legal environment governing government purchases. Based on the experience gained through qualitative case studies and semi structured interviews of the stakeholders, in this paper we briefly cover legal and policy frameworks related prerequisites for sustainable public procurement in India. Finally we suggest a model national procurement law which could help fulfilling e-procurement expectations in Indian context. The paper extends the existing body of knowledge on e-procurement by comparing legal imperatives of a statue vis-à-vis Critical Success Factors (CSF) in relation to sustainable procurement.

Municipal Green Purchasing in Mexico: Policy Adoption and Implementation Success

“…Most of the extant research on GPP has been conducted in developed countries such as Sweden, United Kingdom, Spain, The Netherlands, USA, Australia, Norway, Denmark, Germany, and Canada [15]. In terms of developing countries, apart from Latin America, there are studies in Africa [34], Ghana [35], India [36], Pakistan [37], South Africa [38], and Thailand [39]; however, most of them have been performed in China [40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47] and Nigeria [48][49][50].…”