Public Procurement is the process by which Public Administrations of a country i) establish and determine their need of, ii) demand the provision from outside entities of, iii) contractualize the purchase [with taxpayers’ money] with one entity of and iv) monitor/manage the provision of: goods, services and works, in order to fulfill their institutional mandate with regards to their citizens.
It occupies a large share of the GDP that every year is produced in any given country, thereby affecting critically employment and the quality of work, and an even larger share of the total public spending. It's variations play a substantial role in smoothing economic bad times like recessions.
What is the goal of a public procurement strategy? Minimizing costs for taxpayer’s benefit? Or possibly achieving social justice by means of determining who to buy from? Or maybe contributing to industrial policy by protecting small firms? Or redirecting purchases to be environmentally sustainable? And are all these goals synergic or do they create policy dilemma?
Who are the worse enemies of a good procurement strategy? Collusion? Corruption? Incompetence? The three together?
With which tools do you achieve all these goals and fight all these enemies of a good society?