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The purpose of this study is to better understand the effectiveness of buyers’ defensive measures to thwart bid protests in government procurements.

A sample of 240 sourcing professionals concerning government source selections is used to analyze a logistic regression model exploring 6 antecedents of bid protests.

This research implicates the importance of oral presentations of offers, the type of value procured (i.e. services), protest experience, the quantity of document revisions, transaction costs and cost reimbursement contracts in receiving a bid protest.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to explore sourcing strategy decisions that can contribute to the receipt of a bid protest. It adds clarity to an understudied market of business – the public sector.

The fear of receiving a bid protest is said to affect acquisition strategies, yet it has not been empirically explored. Based on the Public Value Framework and interviews with contracting personnel, this research tests a model of antecedents to and consequences of the fear of a protest. Survey data was obtained from a sample of 350 contracting personnel. The fear of protest is mitigated by having sufficient procurement lead time and by source selection experience, and increased by protest risk. Fear of protest increases compromised technical evaluations, added procurement lead time, and transaction costs, while it decreases contracting officer authority and is associated with source selection method inappropriateness. Compromised technical evaluations, in turn, decrease contractor performance while contracting officer authority increases contractor performance. Thus, findings suggest that, indeed, the tail is wagging the dog. The research concludes with several managerial implications, study limitations and future research directions.

Small businesses are critical to economic health and encouraged in government spending by set-asides – annual small business sourcing goals that often are not attained. Little research has explored the negative and risky stigmas associated with small business sourcing.

This research explores reduced transaction costs of small business sourcing to government buyers. A survey of 350 government source selections reveals lower transaction costs derived from lower perceived risk of receiving a bid protest and via more efficient source selection processes.

Contrary to common bias, the performance level of small businesses is no less than that of large business. Thus, small businesses engender lower transaction costs for correcting supplier’s performance. On the basis of these findings, managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.

Markets for public contracting are in the process of transition. Various public/private partnership arrangements replace conventional purchasing, especially within the local and regional government area. Municipal entities may not be in a position to define their needs up-front because they would not have the overview of what the market may have to offer. So one should ask: Is the traditional ban-on-negotiations in mandatory tender procedures (sealed bidding) - such as it is in EU public procurement law - counter-effective to genuine best value for public money? The article displays significant differences between European Union (EU) law, U.S. law and other regimes such as United Nations Model law, The World Trade Organisation’s Government Procurement Agreement (WTO/GPA), The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). New avenues for public/private demand a new agenda and the recent EU 2004 directive scheme attempts to respond to the market challenges. The author accepts that the new directive on public contracting facilitates a more smooth approach than in current EU law with regard to high-tech complicated contract awards, but questions whether the ’competitive dialogue’ really can afford tailor-made solutions to cope with long-term public/private partnership arrangements of the kind now spreading all over Europe

Nearly $200 billion a year is funneled through the federal procurement system to buy everything from paper clips to stealth fighters. This procurement system can be thought of as an oscillating pendulum as it swings from one extreme of unresponsiveness to mission needs to the other extreme of hypersensitivity to mission. Out of a sense that the procurement pendulum had swung too far towards overregulation, two major procurement reform laws were passed: the Federal Acquisition Streamlining Act of 1994 and the Clinger-Cohen Act of 1996. Many observers suggest that these two laws have led to a revolution in the way the government buys. Are these reforms permanent? The view here is they are not because of various political forces.

Knowledge-based services (KBS) comprise a major portion of services acquired by public organizations. However, their procurement is not well managed; consequently, inefficiencies abound. Therefore, this study explores whether and how KBS can be sourced more efficiently by examining best practices and precepts from knowledge management theory. A spend analysis of one agencyʼs spend is used to identify the types of KBS procured. Interviews from 12 cases are then used to identify best practices and cost drivers in sourcing KBS. Twenty one recommendations for improving efficiency in sourcing KBS are offered. The findings suggest that potential is available from demand reduction strategies, and that public policy governing the procurement of knowledge is needed. The research concludes with theoretical implications and suggestions for future research.

Auctioneer — Theatre knocked down to plaintiff — Dispute as to whether this was highest bid — Theatre put up for sale again and knocked down to plaintiff at increased price — Claim for damages against auctioneers for difference in price between the two bids.

Considering built heritage as public goods demands a lot of planning as usually historic sites and monuments are administrated by governments. The purpose of this paper is to propose and apply contingent valuation method (CVM) for the value assessment of historic sites as public goods.

The aim of this research is to apply CVM to assess the total value as well as sub values, use and non-use values of a historic site. Ferdowsi mausoleum in Tus historic area near Mashhad city in Iran has been chosen as a case study.

The paper indicates that historic sites meet all the criteria for being considered as public goods and obtained high amount of willingness to pay proves the significance of Ferdowsi mausoleum to the people of Mashhad city and its tourists. Non-use values comprise the highest share of value and cultural identity has the highest value among non-use values.

It is recommended that CVM be applied in cost-benefit analysis of historic sites. This is useful in the process of prioritization of restoration and maintenance of historic sites and could be used by policy makers in policy crafting processes.

CVM has been used for the first time for a mausoleum and for a site in Iran and sub values have been measured for the first time for a historic site.

Government contracting is rife with miscommunication and misperception, sometimes unavoidably, and is often associated with secrecy, autarky, and opportunism. These qualities undermine trust, increase contracting costs, and reduce effective collaboration between business and government. In this article we show how mutual trust can be repaired and, once repaired, bumped up and made much more robust through cultivational governance. The proximate aim of the article is improving source-selection in government acquisition; its scholarly purpose lies in contributing to a process theory for recovering and reinforcing trust.