How can procurement create (sustainable) public value under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal?

Abstract

The economic response of the US government to the COVID‐19 pandemic envisions massive investment in infrastructure construction. Yet, governments contract out public works and might lack the capacity to meet the increased demand for new construction. Drawing on a mix of survey and interview data, we identify critical deficiencies in contract capacity that might lead to a loss of public resources and further erode trust in the government. We propose a plan for restructuring public procurement systems and offer solutions around four foci: collaboration, training, flexibility, and sustainability. This transformation path would enhance government contract capacity and use markets to signal a demand for sustainable infrastructure and create public value in line with the strategic objectives of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal.

Social equity in federal contracting during emergencies: A portfolio management perspective

“…First, this study extends the current emergency management literature focused on understanding how governments ensure equity in public management decisions, using COVID‐19, the most recent global emergency, as the context (e.g., Wright & Merritt, 2020). Second, by providing insights into how federal organizations can use procurement and emergency contracting to achieve their broader diversity, equity, and inclusion objectives, we support previous literature (e.g., Patrucco et al, 2022; Plantinga et al, 2020) that promotes the role of procurement in strategic public management. Last, by using portfolio management theory, this study first shows the strategic application of portfolio models to the public context (so far underutilized; Tip et al, 2022).…”

“…Procurement in the public sector has typically been viewed as a basic administrative process involving contract management and the application of specific regulations (Patrucco et al, 2017; Trammell et al, 2020). In recent years, especially in response to the COVID‐19 pandemic and economic crisis, it is evident that procurement plays a strategic role in the effective implementation of policy reforms (Patrucco et al, 2022). Research and practice have demonstrated that public procurement can be strategically utilized to improve value for money (e.g., Erridge and Mcllroy, 2002; Loader, 2007; Reis & Cabral, 2015; Patrucco et al, 2017) and public value (e.g., Erridge, 2007), increase market innovation (e.g., Edler & Georghiou, 2007), achieve social, economic, and environmental goals (e.g., Alkadry et al, 2019), and reduce unemployment and improve working conditions (e.g., Grandia & Meehan, 2017).…”

Buying green in U.S. local government: Internal commitment and responsiveness to external pressures

“…While supranational players like the European Union have long adopted legislation on environmentally friendly purchasing, they are still in the quest to find effective levers to change the practices in their member states (Behravesh et al, 2022) often possess superior experience and expertise in sustainability than procurement officials. Thus, governments should seek to partner with experienced contractors in designing sustainable procurement processes (Patrucco et al, 2022).…”

“…Private and nonprofit suppliers often possess superior experience and expertise in sustainability than procurement officials. Thus, governments should seek to partner with experienced contractors in designing sustainable procurement processes (Patrucco et al, 2022).…”

Scholarly hypocrisy or apostasy in public administration: Preaching to the choir, or to an empty room?

“…This issue presents three viewpoint articles. Patrucco, Dimand, Neshkova, and Cevallos (2022) identify critical deficiencies in contract capacity that might lead to a loss of public resources and further erode trust in the government in the wake of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal of 2021. Abner, Alam, and Cho (2022) investigate how government agencies can foster high engagement and satisfaction in their agencies and Schuster et al (2023) introduce the Global Survey of Public Servants (GSPS), a global initiative to collect and harmonize large‐scale, comparable survey data on public servants.…”