A critical view of the German procurement process in the sector

Abstract

This paper makes a critical analysis of the German procurement process in the public sector, based on a case study carried out at Karlsruhe University. The research protocol for the field study was developed in three phases: direct dialogue with the head of the department, document analysis, and semi-structured interviews. Data collection was concerned with both the analysis of the organization as well as with the mapping of project activities. A detailed study was carried out on a single construction project in order to enable the development of a value stream map of the procurement macro processes. Based on the data, the authors present a set of proposals for a radical improvement in the German procurement process, focusing on shortening the cycle time, increasing transparency and improving value generation. The study reinforces the need for more research focused on lean production concepts and principles in the public sector. By identifying radical improvement opportunities in the German procurement process, it may be possible to convince politicians and decision makers to change structures of responsibilities and to apply lean principles in public administration. The paper appears to be one of the first studies to apply lean principles into the procurement process of governmental organizations, in order to simplify processes, reduce waste and better allocate resources in order to add more value for the end-users.

University management: the lean production allied to the program quality of life at work

“…It is observed that in this study, as in the researches of Roman et al (2013) and Zanchet et al (2007), the time that does not add value (in its majority, in the form of waiting) is much higher than the time it adds value. These findings reinforce the importance of resuming the value flow mapping goal: to eliminate activities that do not add value, so that the flow of value is increasingly efficient (Hofacker et al, 2012). of Alegrete/RS City Hall.…”

“…As mentioned earlier, the value stream map is the first tool to be used when thinking about introducing lean production. According to Hofacker et al (2012), the purpose of this mapping is to eliminate activities that do not add value, so that the flow of value is increasingly efficient.…”

“…For Rother & Shook (1999) the VFM is an extremely simple tool, which can be applied using only pencil and paper. Among the improvements observed from the use of VFM, the following can be cited: it helps to visualize the production flow as a whole, maps waste, provides a common language that facilitates discussion about improvements, provides visualization of actions taken and groups lean manufacturing techniques, creates a basis for a change plan, groups lean manufacturing techniques, creates a basis for a change plan, and relates the flow of information to materials (Rother & Shook, 1999;Hofacker et al, 2012).…”

“…This tool, through illustrative icons, identifies activities that add value or not to the customer. According to Hofacker et al (2012), the improvement cycle used is to map the so-called "current state" of a given value stream, which is the starting point for future improvements. These improvements are inserted in the mapping of the "future state".…”

Reporting the Social Value Generated by European Universities for Stakeholders: Applicability of the Global Reporting Initiative Model

“…More recently, certain authors analyse the value contributed by the university as a co-transforming agent and catalyst of innovation in its local environment (Ponsiglione et al, 2018). The public procurement process of universities, as a way of generating value in the economic environment, is also analysed from a critical perspective by the academic literature (Torres et al, 2010;Hofacker et al, 2012;Valero and Van Reenen, 2019). Van den Akker et al (2017) analyse how the response of universities to social challenges is changing the general view of the impact these institutions can have, and this is influencing their research and teaching.…”