Dorée, A G (1997) Construction procurement by Dutch municipalities. Journal of Construction Procurement, 3(3), pp. 78-88. ISSN 1358-9180
Abstract
Over the last decade the European Union (EU) has had a strong impact on the way public organizations introduce market philosophies in their policies. The EU directives on procurement, the battles against cartels, the globalization and harmonization of markets, all lead to extra attention to the procurement practice of public agencies. The procurement practice of one of these public organizations, the municipalities in the Netherlands, is examined. Statistical data suggest that Dutch municipalities prefer limited tendering procedures, and seem to avoid public tender procedures. Research into the reasons for such preference is reported. Analysis of municipalities' procurement and tendering practice uncovered an intricate mechanism for maintaining project control. Municipalities implicitly use the prospect of future assignments to restrain contractors' misbehaviour. By doing so municipalities reduce uncertainties and risks. Contractors' demeanour becomes more flexible, cooperative and quality orientated because of this mechanism. Through the use of this mechanism the municipality-contractor relationship has developed to a kind of co-makership relation. This phenomenon is categorically overlooked in the standard market paradigms. Bending the procurement and tendering practice towards more public tendering is expected to make project control more troublesome.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | dispute, Dutch municipality, project management, tendering |
| Index terms: | dispute, European Union, paradigm, construction procurement, markets, project control, project management, Netherlands, philosophy, globalization, agency, preference, municipality |
| Subjects: | Geography, physical geography and landforms, decision-making and reasoning, contractual arrangements, economic analysis, philosophical studies, administrative law, economic factors, sociology, project management theory and practice, education and knowledge transfer, dispute resolution, control systems |
| Topics: | Research Practice, Business Strategy, International Construction, Project Management, Geographical Context, Procurement, Legal Issues |
| Descriptive scope: | 3 PCT |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here