Article 5

Title

Challenges in public procurement before, during, and after the COVID-19 crisis: Selected theses on a competency-based approach

Author

  • Michael Eßig – [email protected]
    Chair for Business Administration, especially Purchasing and Supply Management and Head of the Working Area Procurement including the Research Group for Law and Management of Public Procurement as well as the Audi Procurement Research Group and the Research Group Defence Acquisition and Supply Management at Bundeswehr University Munich. His research areas include Strategic Procurement, Supply (Chain) Management, Public and Defence Procurement, Digitalization in Supply Management with more than 300 Publications. He works closely with major companies and public institutions like Audi AG, Airbus, Amazon Business, Federal Ministry of the Interior, Federal Ministry of Economics and the Federal Ministry of Defence. Besides his work at Bundeswehr University, he is Guest Lecturer at the University of St. Gallen and Vienna University of Economics and Business, Associate Editor of the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management as well as the Journal of Public Procurement and serves as member of the board of the German National Purchasing Association (Bundesverband Materialwirtschaft, Einkauf und Logistik e.V. / BME), member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Federal Minister for Defence of the Republic of Austria and member of the board of the German Defence Technology Association (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Wehrtechnik e.V. / DWT) and others.
  • Christian von Deimling – [email protected]
    Holds the endowed junior professorship for General Business Administration, particularly for Industrial Procurement, at the Department of Economics and Management at the Bundeswehr University Munich. He is concerned with the development and successful introduction of supply and procurement strategies, with the influence of innovation on and through procurement and on the market position of companies and organizations, with the role and use of life cycle costs for different decision gates in investment projects as well as with the design and the success of cooperative purchasing. Before his university career, Christian von Deimling worked for four years as a consultant in operations strategy and integrated planning.
  • Andreas H. Glas – [email protected]
    Associate Professor and Managing Director of the Defense Acquisition & Supply Management (DASM) research group at Bundeswehr University Munich. His research investigates the buyer-supplier interface and in particular performance-based contracts. He co-edited the Springer book Performance-based Logistics and his articles on the topic have appeared in journals including the Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management, International Journal of Physical Distribution and Supply Management, Journal of Military Studies, Supply Chain Management (IPM), and Journal of Public Procurement.

 

Abstract

This paper develops three theses on a competency-based approach during and after the COVID-19 crisis. These theses are based on the following empirical findings: case insights into the procurement of protective gear in Germany, the supplier shortage, which was a problem even before the crisis, and a quantitative view on the extended supply chain challenges in public procurement, including the decreasing number of bidders and an overly narrow view on supply chain partners. A key finding is that while the COVID-19 crisis has uncovered the problems of public procurement, the root causes lie more deeply in public procurement capabilities. As a result, this paper promotes extended public buyer competencies based on a European Framework, evidence-based decision-making in public procurement and the use of digital technologies to improve the security of supplies.

 

Citation

Essig, M., Deimling, C. V. & Glas, A. (2021). Challenges in public procurement before, during, and after the COVID-19 crisis: Selected theses on a competency-based approach, European Journal of Public Procurement Markets, 3(5), 65-80. https://doi.org/10.54611/PGEK9560