Public Procurement Procedure and Project Implementation for the Digital Age: A Sri Lankan Perspective

Abstract

Procurement of information systems (IS) is a complex process since they could range from off-the-shelf standard products to highly customized systems. The dynamic nature and rapid development in the IS sector often make their procurement to be incompatible with the traditional red tapes and the procedural approach in public procurement methods. This study focuses on identifying the gaps between the two domains and the ways to overcome the challenges with the aim of making necessary recommendations to public IS procurement processes. The Modified Delphi method is adopted as the primary research technique. In the first Delphi round, interviews were conducted with a selected portion of an expert panel. Interview questions were formulated using problems identified by conducting a literature survey. Expert opinions on the solutions to the listed problems and issues they encountered in their careers, were then formulated into a close-ended questionnaire for the second Delphi round in which the entire panel of experts generated a set of recommendations to overcome challenges identified in the first Delphi round. The recommendations were categorized under tender specifications, bid-evaluation criteria, government regulations, project management, collaboration among procurers and bidders, and competence of procurers. The recommendations were ranked and listed based on their level of importance for presentation. The findings of this research can be adopted to improve the existing public procurement procedure and project implementation in the IS domain.