Procuring Infrastructure for International Sporting Events: Mapping the Field for IPACS and Beyond

Abstract

The lack of attention to corruption risks in procurement in international events is also highlighted in the IPACS report, p.5, which points out that most efforts on corruption in sport have primarily focused on general sports governance and competition manipulation. 8 Books on event management only include a brief paragraph or so on procurement and related matters -e.g.

The Role of Logistics in and for Global Sport Events

“…For global sport events, the most important procurement activities usually comprise the sourcing of infrastructure. As Arrowsmith et al (2019) explain, this is almost entirely a public sector activity and compared to traditional logistics operations, the main challenge in this context shifts to the complex management of the different institutions and organisations involved. In fact, key stakeholders range from public institutions at multiple levels to international and national federations, often with conflicting interests (Arrowsmith et al, 2019).…”

“…As Arrowsmith et al (2019) explain, this is almost entirely a public sector activity and compared to traditional logistics operations, the main challenge in this context shifts to the complex management of the different institutions and organisations involved. In fact, key stakeholders range from public institutions at multiple levels to international and national federations, often with conflicting interests (Arrowsmith et al, 2019). Moreover, research found that infrastructure procurement for global events carries the risk of corruption, as in many cases, the involved sport federations lack basic oversight mechanisms (OECD, 2016).…”

“…Another significant challenge is the immovable deadline of events which means that 'when problems arise there can be no trade-off between schedule and cost, as is common for other megaprojects' (Flyvbjerg, Stewart, & Budzier, 2016, p. 14). Procurement challenges for global sport events also increase if special events are indeed a 'one-off', which means involving host governments with little or no experience in organising events of similar size or scale and at times with a lack of cost benchmarks (Arrowsmith et al, 2019).…”