On Public Procurement of ICT Systems: Stakeholder Views and Emerging Tensions

Abstract

The public sector is a significant consumer of ICT systems. In countries like Finland, where openness, objectivity, and fairness in public acquisitions are deemed essential, public ICT procurement is based on tenders initiated by public sector organizations. The tendering process is regulated by laws that aim to eliminate unfair advantages and provide all potential stakeholders with similar opportunities to participate. However, depending on the stakeholders’ perspectives, they may interpret the tendering process differently, leading to tensions among them. In this paper, we examine Finland’s public procurement of ICT systems using semi-structured interviews as our data collection method and analyze the results thematically. The interviewees include individuals familiar with tendering and acquisition processes in public organizations and those involved in delivering systems as vendors, representing two different perspectives on the tendering process. The results indicate that although there are significant differences in maturity among public sector organizations participating in procurement, several common themes emerged from nearly all the interviews. Furthermore, in light of contrasting views between public organizations and vendors, recurring tensions arise due to different interpretations of acquisition laws.