Product classification is an important tool for automating e‑Procurement processes in the private sector, whereas public e‑Procurement does not emphasize this function. This paper reports on the methodology and results of a comparative analysis of product classification in public vs. private e‑Procurement. We define criteria for assessing the current state of respective standards, such as CPV, eCl@ss, and UNSPSC. The in‑depth analysis of two representative standards reveals fundamental differences and shortcomings, which can partly be attributed to different objectives and priorities of public and private sector organizations.

Often e‑Procurement systems are implemented because authorities' guidelines, tools or legal setting mandates them. The growing relevance of e‑Procurement systems and tools in public health care organisations (HCOs) has raised much attention in business practice and the academic literature, also related to the improvement of public health care services and community welfare (e.g. Henriksen et al., EU Directives 17‑182004). The aim of this paper is to explore organisational requirements that a HCO must meet in order to successfully implement an e‑Procurement system, in terms of organisational culture, managerial skills, human resource management and capabilities to manage inter organisational relationships and IT infrastructures. We focused our investigation on the Italian Health Care Sector managed by the public in a complex environment. According to an interpretive approach, we conducted a case study research on 33 Italian public HCOs, both hospitals and local health care services, through a series of in‑depth interviews to those departments responsible for procurement. In Italy, in spite of the efforts by both Governments and the EU, it seems the adoption of e‑Procurement has not taken off. The results show a) a lack of organisational requirements which don't allow exploitation of ICT opportunities in the procurement processes, b) HCOs have not however considered organisational requirements in e‑Procurement implementation processes; this has led to a sub‑optimal adoption of e‑ Procurement systems and c) inadequacy of IT infrastructure. The implications of our research are that e‑Procurement diffusion and success must be anticipated by a deep analysis of the organisational requirements that can improve HCOs consciousness of how develop an e‑Procurement system aligned with their processes and organisations.

This paper analyses the way in which a major public sector organisation undertakes its high tech e‑ procurements and its power relationships at the interface with its private sector suppliers. This is undertaken by examining the corporate governance of significant high tech e‑procurements by the Australian Department of Defence. Comparative case study data of 106 e‑procurements were undertaken by the author over the key client development period from concept to contract award, with a view to determining 'best practice' e‑procurement process. The best practice model links technological developments with e‑procurement power frameworks, and provides a public sector client with knowledge to realize new power relationships at the publicprivate interface through the remodelling and restyling of its e‑procurement arrangements.

Abstract: The major aim of this paper is to explore and analyse the views of Malaysian public officials on how e‑Procurement helps mitigate procurement fraud. While it is fully legitimate for private enterprises to bid for public works, in many cases ther e is inappropriate granting of public money to non‑qualifying private business in a fraudulent manner. The visibility of fraud losses in the public sector has undermined the delivery of public services. Decrease of fraud incidents can improve the countryâ  ’s growth in terms of infrastructure, by providing facilities to improve healthcare and education, to combat poverty, and to fund security and defence. This paper analyses the implementation of E‑Government in Malaysia, which has transformed the public s ervice into a dynamic and diverse environment for government activities. Electronic Procurement (e‑Procurement) can be used as a tool to mitigate fraudulent activities in public organisations by ensuring accountability, transparency and the achievement of best value for money contracts. In this qualitative study, a political economy approach was used to investigate the social phenomenon. Documentary analysis and semi‑structured interviews via the Snowball Sampling Method (SSM) were conducted for inves tigating public procurement fraud in Malaysia. The personal views of 13 procurement officers from various Malaysian government agencies were examined. Their perspectives, views and individual experiences shed light on how e‑Procurement helps to alleviate public procurement fraud in Malaysia. The findings showed that that e‑Procurement can (1) dispute political and economic forces in government purchasing processes, (2) manage demands and interference when rewarding government contracts, and (3) be u sed efficiently at the nexus of government and businesses. Thus, this study has a number of practical implementations and contributions based on the experience and views on e‑Procurement by Malaysian public officials. It can also facilitate policy makers, enforcement agencies and researchers in understanding

Firms are the main users of e‑public procurement applications (hereinafter e‑procurement), so their acceptance to adopt this technology is a crucial element in its successful implementation. Nonetheless, very few studies have focused on this subject. This article aims to identify and analyse the factors affecting private companies’ adoption of e‑procurement. Relying on several solid theories in the field of acceptance and adoption of innovation, namely the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), the Diffusion of Innovation theory (DOI), the Technology, Organization, Environment framework (TOE) and the Iacovou et al. model, we constructed a research model that included the most important potential factors that can influence this variable. Our model was tested according to the survey method. Based on the data received from 760 Belgian firms spread over a wide range of economic activities, we identified five main variables that could explain about 33.5 % of the total variability of e‑procurement adoption by firms: size, attitude towards change, competitive pressure, trading partners’ pressure and organizational readiness. In contrast, we did not find any significant relationship between the relative advantages and e‑procurement adoption. Finally, the implications for theory and practice are discussed.

The role played by governmental institutions for accelerating the diffusion of electronic public procurement (e‑PP) is analyzed in this paper. Such analysis is interesting for institutions encouraging the diffusion of e‑Government because they are not objective third party intermediaries instead they are part of the government. The paper is written based on an embedded case study carried out to enquire the challenges faced by the Danish public sector in the diffusion of e‑procurement. The actions taken by the ministry of science, technology and innovation in Denmark are analyzed under the following sections; knowledge building, knowledge deployment, subsidy, mobilization, standard setting and innovation directive. The analysis yields six conjectures and it shows that as public administration is politically managed, the Danish government seeks mainly to influence and not regulate the supply and demand sides. A regulatory action may be misinterpreted as a move to alter power structures within the public administration.

Due to its characteristics, size, and impact, e‑procurement has a strategic importance not only for public administration but for e‑government, since its implementation necessarily crosses many institutional barriers and paradigms of many public managers. E‑procurement brings a set of new rules and dynamics that create ways of doing business with the State in a totally different fashion, with a whole new and bigger set of participants, new incentives and a radically different cost structure; conditions that have the potential to create a competitive marketplace of unparalleled transparency, efficiency and access. While worldwide public e‑procurement has been linked to a myriad of promises, in practice, it has achieved little. Our research, however, shows that to date literature has failed to recognize that e‑procurement is a disruptive innovation, based on also disruptive technologies. A fundamental difference exists between disruptive and sustainable innovations. Empirical evidence suggests the relevance of recognizing a disruptive innovation and its implications as a key success factor. By not considering these implications prior to implementation, strategic actions at the level of organization, resources, people and values, which significantly affects the results derived from the implementation were not considered, and therefore, many promises remain unfulfilled. The findings of this research contribute to an expanded understanding of the factors that promote successful implementation of nation‑wide e‑procurement systems at a time when this technology and operational model is widely needed as many governments are struggling with flawed attempts to implement these systems.