Cooperative purchasing is beginning to receive renewed attention by scholars and practitioners alike in both the private and public sectors. Generally, cooperative purchasing arrangements have been reported to reduce costs, expedite transactions, and increase product knowledge. In the public sector, cooperative purchasing has been reported to reduce political risk, minimize Ared-tape,@ and, in some cases, avoid all reported social equity goals that are reported to increase costs. In this article, we contend that the lack of conceptual clarity has marred the literature on cooperative public sector purchasing, and as a result public sector purchasers have no theoretical guidelines to help them decide upon this purchasing mechanism. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to use agency theory to analyze, define, and establish a conceptual framework of cooperative public purchasing to help guide academics and practicing public sector purchasing professionals.

In general, there are many disincentives standing in the way of promoting change in public procurement practices by government agencies. Because engaging in sustainable purchasing requires some level of entrepreneurialism and risk-taking, a sorting framework is adopted to gauge whether some organizations are systematically more likely to pursue sustainable public purchasing (SPP) efforts than others. One-way analysis of variance and other methods are applied to a survey of public procurement practitioners across over 300 governments in the U.S. Results strongly suggest that agencies of various scope and reach tend to abstain from aggressively pursuing SPP efforts. However, when they do employ SPP, these efforts tend to be quite variable across and within levels of government and organizational size. In an effort to bridge theory with empirical data, a strong case can be made that the current state of SPP in the United States is the result of random and very cautious experimentation with little systematic pattern to SPP adoption.

The COVID-19 pandemic has placed remarkable stress on all aspects of society, from health care and the economy to the psychological well-being of communities. While the crisis is still playing out in the United States and around the world, it is nevertheless appropriate to begin to assess its impact. This paper asks: What documentable public failures provide a deeper understanding of the U.S. government COVID-19 responses’ impact on supply chains? Case examples show that markets were adversely affected in ways that caused avoidable shortages of critical goods and supplies. Moreover, public procurement effectiveness was likely reduced by short-run efforts to obtain political advantage. The article begins with a brief review of disaster procurement, highlighting how public procurement professionals tried to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. The next section delineates three politically led phenomena that adversely impacted procurement’s ability to acquire the needed goods and services, including a lack of cohesive strategy in acquiring essential personal protective equipment; preference for unproven drugs and magical thinking; and cozy relationships between the public and private sectors. The article concludes by discussing the centrality of public sector procurement professionals as a critical link for effective provision of government services, especially in times of crisis.

At all levels of government, inconsistencies exist regarding the terminology and the body of knowledge used to understand public procurement. Perspectives on what public procurement is, or should be, ranges from routine ordering to sophisticated analysis of government spending. Definitional ambiguities have hampered attempts to define the field and unify its focus. This exploratory article examines the implications of the muddled nature of public procurement that has led to debate and uncertainty about the proper role of public procurement practitioners. To address these limitations, three dimensions of all public procurement systems are identified, and a general definition is proposed for describing the field and its institutionalized practices.

This article discusses the unmet need for widespread certification and professionalization of those involved in public procurement. Through original data analysis, differences in perceptions regarding the value and benefits of certification among public sector procurement practitioners are examined. Findings indicate that there is growing awareness by both those holding certification and those who are not certified that certification leads to advanced knowledge and skills within the procurement area. Further, job advancement and occupational growth is perceived to be directly related to certification, and that certification holders enjoy special privilege within occupational norms.