Public buyer's concerns influencing the early phases of information system acquisition

Abstract

Information system (IS) procurement in the public sector is a strictly legislated process where different worries and concerns emerge already in its early phases. They may later lead to hazardous and unwanted outcomes when procuring, acquiring, or implementing the IS. To reduce unsatisfactory outcomes and fears and improve public IS procurement, we thus need to understand different concerns and their effects. In this paper, we present a qualitative single case study where different concerns emerge in the market consultation documentation of a public IS procurement. We identify and analyze the concerns by using the grounded theory approach. We then reflect them with the public IS procurement challenges and the European Union (EU) procurement legislation to understand their influence in public procurement. This provides twofold outcomes: a list of concerns and a model that illustrates their interrelations and a long impact chain within the procurement documentations. The model underlines the impacts of different concerns on IS procurement in general, and on system requirements and vendor selection in particular. Especially the role of requirement specifications is emphasized as it largely defines the vendor selection and the contract. This research did not receive any grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.