Showing papers on "Procurement published in 1990"

Construction Contracts: Law and Management

Abstract: 1. UK construction sector context 2. Roles and relationships 3. General contracting 4. Design-build 5. Construction management 6. Collaborative contracting 7. Risk allocation and procurement decisions 8. Contract choice 9. Tendering and contract formation 10. Liability in contract and tort 11. Contractor's obligations 12. Employer's obligations 13. Responsibility for design 14. Time 15. Payment 16. Contractors' delay and disruption costs 17. Insurance and bonds 18. Role of the contract administrator 19. Sub-contracts 20. Financial remedies for breach of contract 21. Defective buildings and subsequent owners 22. Suspension and termination of contracts 23. Non-adversarial dispute resolution 24. Adversarial dispute resolution

Procurement policy as a tool of industrial policy

Abstract: (1990). Procurement policy as a tool of industrial policy. International Review of Applied Economics: Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 182-198.

Automated system for generating procurement lists

Abstract: An automated system and concomitant methodology for minimizing the procurement costs of products and for generating a list of selected products based on the results of the minimization is disclosed for the Business Volume Discount regime. The system processing covers purchasing situations wherein multiple vendors offer a plurality of products and the vendors give discounts based on the total dollar amount of business received from the purchasers. The processing effected by the system utilizes a linear programming technique to solve a model of the business volume discount regime given a variety of constraints.

Automated procurement system with multi-system data access

Abstract: An automated procurement system, in which a buyer workstation is in communication with a mainframe database that stores global data relevant to procurement documents and reports The workstation is programmed with an interactive buyer interface that displays procurement documents, provides support data to aid in decision-making, and provides various document attachments Data is uploaded and downloaded to and from the mainframe and the workstation in a manner that is transparent to the buyer

Procurement and public management : the fear of discretion and the quality of government performance

Abstract: Examining procurement and public management, this study shows how common sense is constantly perverted by the requirements of the bidding process.

Manprint: An Approach to Systems Integration

Abstract: PERSPECTIVE This book is important to everyone concerned with the design and development of people-oriented systems. The Manpower and Personnel Integration (MANPRINT) program is a major military system procurement initiative adopted by the Army to focus on the needs and capabilities of the soldier. This program is unique in that it integrates six areas of user concerns which include human factors engineering, manpower, personnel, training, health hazards, and system safety throughout the development cycle of Army materiel. Even though MAN PRINT was developed for Army systems, the philosophy and techniques used in this program extend well beyond military systems used by soldiers. It can be applied to all products and systems used by people such as automobiles, airplanes, boats, control rooms, automated manufacturing, telecommunications, computers, and medical equipment. Interestingly, the impetus for MAN PRINT came from the senior managers who buy these systems. During the early and mid-1980s, two Army generals, M. R. Thurman and R. M. Elton, who served successively as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, were instrumental in fostering MANPRINT development. By the end of the 1980s, this program was integrated throughout the standard procurement system of the Army. The formal statement of acquisition policy is contained in Army Regulation 602-2.

Purchasing in the International Marketplace: Implications for Operations

Abstract: Purchasing in the International Marketplace: Implications for Operations Internationalization of the marketplace, global competition, and changes in the business environment have contributed to the increase in international purchasing. U.S. firms, recognizing these trends, are entering the international arena in increasing numbers. Simply stated, domestic suppliers alone cannot meet all the competitive needs of a multinational corporation. As a result, international sourcing has emerged as a critical component of corporate strategy, aimed at reducing costs, raising product quality, increasing manufacturing flexibility, and improving designs. This article discusses the strategic importance of international purchasing, describes procedural and managerial issues of concern in international procurement, and delineates the significant differences between buying from foreign and domestic sources. The importance of the linkage between the purchasing function and the other functions within a firm is becoming more evident with each passing year.[1] Firms are becoming acutely aware that purchasing decisions impact many cross-functional decisions, such as capacity requirements and equipment needs (make-versus-buy decisions), product cost(*) and quality performance, (source selection and qualification decisions), delivery reliability (mode and carrier decisions), and product innovation (supplier partnering decisions). This awareness has been generated by the strategic emphasis placed on product quality, cost competitiveness, and the just-in-time[2] approach to manufacturing and delivery. U.S. firms, recognizing these trends, are entering the arena of international purchasing in increasing numbers. Simply stated, domestic suppliers cannot meet all the competitive needs of a multinational corporation. As a result, international sourcing has emerged as a critical component of corporate strategy, aimed at reducing costs, increasing product quality, increasing manufacturing flexibility, and improving product designs.[3] This article, based largely on extensive field interviews, discusses the strategic importance of international purchasing, describes procedural and managerial issues of concern in international procurement, and delineates the differences between buying from foreign and buying from domestic sources. A CHANGING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT There are several reasons for the emergence of international purchasing as a strategic weapon in the restructuring of manufacturing operations in U.S. firms. Most of these reasons are related directly to the efforts of U.S. manufacturing firms to gain, or regain, competitive strength and market share by improving their strategic posture in response to a changing business environment. The principal changes in the environment that underlie the move by manufacturing firms to develop new corporate strategies are summarized in Table I. TABLE I A CHANGING BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT New Challenges to Corporate America * Intense international competition * Pressure to reduce costs * Need for manufacturing flexibility * Shorter product development cycles * Stringent quality standards * Ever-changing technology Competition Intense competition from abroad, pressures stemming from the need to reduce trade deficits through exports, and the interdependence of global economies have all served to internationalize the marketplace. Surviving and thriving in today's global markets require that manufacturing firms be truly "world class." There is evidence that the United States no longer enjoys an unequaled advantage in manufacturing and in manufactured goods. Steel, semiconductor, automobile, and consumer electronics industries all have fallen victim to international competition and have seen their market shares erode. Cost Reduction Most manufacturing firms are striving to be low cost, high quality producers. …

New Weapons, Old Politics: America's Military Procurement Muddle

Abstract: Americans spend more than $100 billion a year to buy weapons, but no one likes the process that brings these weapons into existence. The problem, McNaugher shows, is that the technical needs of engineers and military planners clash sharply with the political demands of Congress. McNaugher examines weapons procurement since World War II and shows how repeated efforts to improve weapons acquisition have instead increased the harmful intrusion of political pressures into that technical development and procurement process. Today's weapons are more complicated than their predecessors. So are the nation's military forces. The design of new systems and their integration into the force structure demand more care, time, and flexibility. Yet time and flexibility are precisely what political pressures remove from the acquisitions process. In a series of case studies and conceptual discussions, McNaugher tackles concerns at the heart of the debate about acquisition--the slow and heavily bureaucratic approach to development, the preference for ultimate weapons over well-organized and trained forces, and the counterproductive incentives facing the nations defense firms. He calls for changes that run against the current fashion--less centralization or procurement, less haste in developing new weapons, and greater use of competition as a means of removing the development process from political oversight. Above all, McNaugher shows how the United States tries to buy research and development on the cheap, and how costly this has been. The nation can improve its acquisition process, he concludes, only when it recognizes the need to pay for the full exploration of new technology.

Quality vs. Quantity In Military Procurement

Abstract: It is often argued that the same expenditures on military procurement would produce a more effective defense if larger numbers of less sophisticated (and thus cheaper) weapons were purchased. This paper shows that such a result can occur even if the military derives no private consumption value from technically sophisticated weapons. Rather, the organization of the decision-making process itself can produce this result. This suggests some possible solutions through organizing decision-making in a different fashion. Copyright 1990 by American Economic Association.

Procurement and Public Management

Abstract: Using federal procurement of computer systems, the author shows the effects of practices designed to prevent collusion between vendors and officials.

The R&D Boundaries of the Firm: An Empirical Analysis

Abstract: Investigates the decisions of large, established pharmaceutical companies to develop new biotechnology-based pharmaceutical products with in-house research and development (RD (2) are more likely to internalize RD (3) that tended to use in-house RD (4) are more likely to undertake a biotechnology RD and (5) with a higher percentage of their business in pharmaceuticals will be more likely to internalize biotechnology-pharmaceutical R&D projects. Data were gathered from the fifty largest pharmaceutical companies in the world on R&D project-level procurement decisions. Findings indicate that small-numbers-bargaining hazards in the R&D markets do motivate the internalization of R&D. However, it was found that rivalry among established pharmaceutical firms does not lead to internalization. Also supported is the notion that firm-level factors influence R&D procurement patterns, but a firm's history in regard to technological procurement was not a significant indicator of its behavior in new technology. Finally, size was not found to be a significant factor in procurement decisions. (SFL)

The 1988 Local Government Act and Compulsory Competitive Tendering

Abstract: The Conservative Government's 1988 Local Government Act extended compulsory tendering to a wide range of local authority services mainly supplied in the past by public departments in-house. This article reviews why the legislation was introduced; considers the evidence on efficiency savings from competitive tendering; details the services affected; and concludes by looking at the consequences for local government. Generally, there appears to be ample evidence to support the Government's claim that competitive tendering produces appreciable cost savings. Higher operating efficiency comes, however, from competition rather than 'privatisation'. The Act seems to be having a galvanising effect upon in-house suppliers who are reorganising and changing tneir 'culture' so as to compete effectively.

Measuring the effectiveness of competition in defense procurement: A survey of the empirical literature

Abstract: This article surveys the empirical literature that has attempted to measure the effects of competition in defense procurement. Its focus is on the conceptual underpinnings of the empirical models rather than on the technical aspects of the estimation procedures. While the empirical studies provide some valuable insight, the studies are flawed because they assume an implicit model of the procurement environment that is inconsistent with reasonable economic behavior on the part of defense contractors and seems to be contradicted by the evidence. In general, the predictive power of the empirical models is also limited by a program-by-program estimation approach in which only a handful of data points are available to estimate two or more parameters. These empirical models could be improved by the use of structural models that assume reasonable economic behavior and provide a theoretical basis for cross-program analyses.

Quantity Surveying Techniques: New Directions

Abstract: Quantity Surveying Techniques - New directions Developmental appraisal Value management Developments in contract price forecasting and bidding techniques Risk analysis Life cycle cost management Expert systems methodology Computer aided design Integrated databases Procurement systems for bidding Index

Competition for procurement contracts and underinvestment

Abstract: A two-period model is considered in which ex ante identical firms invest in period one, and in period two, after they learn their costs, the lowest cost firm is chosen as the winner of the contract. It is found that even though firms are racing against one another, they end up underinvesting relative to the ex ante socially optimal levels when the buyer is unable to credibly precommit to the second period contract.

Private participation in the delivery of Guinea's water supply services

Abstract: The Republic of Guinea has recently taken steps to restructure dramatically the urban water supply sector and to rehabilitate operations and improve financial performance. This paper outlines the theoretical arguments that are relevant to the project design, describes the institutional arrangements that were adopted, examines the key provisions of the legal documents, and explains how the major issues that arose during project preparation were addressed. It presents a general economic theory regarding the roles of the public and private sectors in providing public services. The main features and advantages of lease contracts are discussed, and the experience in Cote d'Ivoire with lease contracts and concessions for water supply is summarized. The recent history of the water supply sector in Guinea is also outlined. The paper discusses key features of the new institutional and financial arrangements with particular attention to the lease contractor selection process, the role of IDA funding, key provisions of the legal documents, and the resolution of uncertainties regarding the application of World Bank Group procurement policies to this case.

Impact of a required request law on vital organ procurement.

Abstract: "Mandatory" or required request for donation of the organs of patients dying in hospitals has been promulgated as a means of increasing the rate of organ harvest and alleviating the critical shortage of transplantable organs. Although the federal and many state governments have passed legislation to make such requests compulsory, the efficacy of this approach has not been demonstrated. Examination of the experience at our trauma center and in this region, before and after the enactment of a "strong" required request law by the State of New Jersey, did not reveal a statistically significant change in organ procurement. We conclude that such laws are unlikely to achieve the desired result in the absence of fundamental changes in the attitudes of the public and treating physicians.

Competitive tendering: Issues and evidence

Abstract: Many public bodies have been forced unwillingly into management by contract by legislation on compulsory competitive tendering. What are the key issues that emerge, and what is the evidence, at home and abroad, about the impact such legislation has had on management processes and outputs?

Improving the supply and use of essential drugs in Sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract: Few people in sub - Saharan Africa have access to essential drugs. And where drugs are available, they are inequitably distributed and improperly used. Shortages of drugs in Africa are caused not only by lack of funds, although in many countries this is the major reason. Poor utilization and wastage of drugs in public and private sectors are also responsible and can be improved; and the wastage of available foreign exchange can be reduced. While the private sector has a role to play, it is important to be realistic about its ability to serve the whole population and about the quality of the service it provides. Producing local drugs would need to be evaluated in a realistic manner taking account of individual country circumstances. Specific measures to improve selection, quantification, procurement, storage and distribution, and prescription and use of drugs have been implemented in a number of African countries, resulting in significant improvements in the availability of drugs.

One-Step and Two-Step Facility Acquisition for Military Construction: Project Selection and Implementation Procedures

Abstract: : With the cost of construction to replace deteriorated facilities estimated in the billions, the Department of Defense is seeking ways of reducing both the time and money spent to provide structures of the high quality needed to support the military mission. Turnkey procurement approaches have been proposed as alternatives to the traditional design/bid/bid method. Two such approaches, One-Step Competitive Negotiation and Two-Step Sealed Bidding, have been evaluated in trial projects and found successful when circumstances are favorable. This report provides a methodology for: (1) determining which projects shows a high potential for success using one of these alternative procurement methods and, for projects that do, (2) implementing the process, which includes development of design and technical requirements and specifications,

A practical example of a multi-attribute decision aiding technique

Abstract: The marketing and business development representatives of major construction firms operating abroad experience difficulties from being remote from their decision-making executives. Even with modern communications the physical distances involved, with their attendant time zone differences, present many problems for decision-making. One objective of these representatives is to identify construction business opportunities and pursue these through all phases including tendering competitively. A typical policy is for a major decision to be referred to ‘head-office’ which introduces delays often unacceptable to the clients and which may reduce the competitive advantage of the tendering firm. A study was undertaken in conjunction with a major contracting firm who wishes to remain anonymous. This was to derive a decision-making process for its overseas representatives which would help on-the-spot decisions to comply with corporate policies whilst a bid is being presented to the client by the due date. The firm is divisionalised and operates in overseas territories as one single division using sub-contractors, or with co-operating divisions, or at group level. As the tendering personnel are one of the firm's scarce resources and also a most valuable resource, it is clear that they should be ‘used’ to the best advantage. This paper presents the decision aiding technique proposed by Keeney and Raiffa, in a restricted format, to illustrate how firms may better utilise their scarce marketing and business development resources and in doing so boost their chances of success in a competitive situation.

Prices, procurement and production: an analysis of wheat and rice.

Abstract: There has been an unusual hike in the procurement prices of wheat and paddy in 1989-90. This raises issues such as: how are these prices determined? What is their impact on open market prices? How do they affect the volume of procurement and output by entering into the incentive structure of farmers? This paper explores these issues in an empirical framework. The results indicate that procurement prices are largely influenced by movements in cost of production and lagged open market prices with occasional bonanzas emanating from non-economic considerations; procurement prices have a decisive influence on current market price formation with other factors like stocks with government and zoning playing only marginal roles; the volume of procurement is significantly affected by level of output and difference between procurement and open market prices weakly supported by administrative measures; the supply of wheat and rice is influenced by their open market prices, suitably deflated, and non-price variables like irrigation. The elasticity with respect to shifter variables is much greater than price elasticity. Results for wheat are more robust than for rice. In all cases state-level results reveal greater diversity. The study contemplates a supportive role for prices which becomes critical when non-price factors are in place.

Understanding the unbundled utility conservation bidding proposal

Abstract: For several years regulatory advisers have been engaged in controversy about the propriety of integrating energy conservation measures into the total resource planning processes of electric utilities, and of proposed methods of doing so in the competitive supply procurement programs which have been initiated by some utilities. Two prominent economists conceived a method for doing this in competitive bidding programs and at the same time overcoming objections to previous proposals which were based on perceived violations of basic economic principles. They explained their concept and its operation in an article published here in June of last year. In this article another economist subjects the concept to further analysis, identifying its essential elements, and point to inevitable results of their application.

Methods and data used by large building contractors in preparing tenders

Abstract: The process of submitting lump sum competitive tenders continues to be commonly practised by UK building contractors. Most tenders are based on a detailed analysis of project details and a detailed costing of parts of the work to be done. Considerable resources are being devoted to the preparation offenders in this way. Any means of improving the efficiency of this process would be very welcome to contractors and to the construction industry as a whole. This paper presents a documentation of methods offender preparation in the form of a model of the tasks executed. This model is a description of the process in its most complex possible form as currently executed and does not attempt to portray the tendering process as it is typically performed. Variations within the model have beenfound to occur between individual contractors and for alternative means of procurement as well as for differences in project complexity. However, the model is generally representative of the means by which tenders are prepared b...