Background: The market for eProcurement is expected to increase from from US$ 3,6 miljarder to US$ 1.375 billions under the period 1999-2003. Nevertheless, there is still a widespread unsecurity among companies surrounding eProcurement, partly due to that procurement for a long time has played a remote role in the companies, and partly since procurement is a far from a homogeneous function. Purpose: To examine how eProcurement is defined, what advantages eProcurement implies and how it affects the procurement strategies and the procurement processes of companies. Research method: The empiric work comes from interviews with persons in connection with procurement at four companies that today are using an eProcurement-system or are about to introduce one, and at two companies that delivers applications. Result: From the persons we have interviewed we conclude that there is a rather strong unanimity as how eProcurement is being defined, and which advantages it can imply. Furthermore, eProcurement should not be seen as a solution of a company's eventuall procurement problems, but as a tool to strengthen and refine its procurement strategies and a possibility for rationalizing the procurement processes of the company. In other words, you shall not just pave old paths.

<p>Background: The market for eProcurement is expected to increase from from US$ 3,6 miljarder to US$ 1.375 billions under the period 1999-2003. Nevertheless, there is still a widespread unsecurity among companies surrounding eProcurement, partly due to that procurement for a long time has played a remote role in the companies, and partly since procurement is a far from a homogeneous function. </p><p>Purpose: To examine how eProcurement is defined, what advantages eProcurement implies and how it affects the procurement strategies and the procurement processes of companies. </p><p>Research method: The empiric work comes from interviews with persons in connection with procurement at four companies that today are using an eProcurement-system or are about to introduce one, and at two companies that delivers applications. </p><p>Result: From the persons we have interviewed we conclude that there is a rather strong unanimity as how eProcurement is being defined, and which advantages it can imply. Furthermore, eProcurement should not be seen as a solution of a company's eventuall procurement problems, but as a tool to strengthen and refine its procurement strategies and a possibility for rationalizing the procurement processes of the company. In other words, you shall not just pave old paths.</p>

In this essay a quantitative empirical study with qualitative elements is performed. The purposeof the paper is to investigate whether public procurement can be applied as a political instrument. The empirical data consists of a selection of government agencies and how well these government's governing documents have implemented the current government's National Public Procurement Strategy. In order to analyze the degree of implementation, three different implementation theories are applied. The theories applied are implementation from an upside down perspective, implementation from a bottom and up perspective and implementation based on ability, will and understanding. In order to delimit the essay to a reasonable extent, the study aims to focus on how socially responsible public procurement have been included in the governing documents. The question that is aimed to be answered is: to what extent has the objective of socially responsible in public procurement been implemented in the governing documents? The second question is: Is social responsibility more prominent in governing documents that were updated after launching the national public procurement strategy. the third question is: what possible implementation barriers can be identified when implementing the national procurement strategy. The method used in the essay is essentially a quantitative content analysis that is complemented by a qualitative interview survey. The results of the empirical study show shortcomings in the implementation of the selected authorities, which indicates that the national strategy have a weak effect as a political instrument.

The global business context has created an increased need for procurement to become strategic. Strategic procurement revolves around integrating procurement with the rest of the company and ensuring that its goals are in line with the company’s objectives. Strategic procurement requires it to be included in strategic planning and implementation. It must have a long-term focus and work proactively. Even though much literature agrees that strategic procurement has gotten an elevated status recently, there is still a gap between the current and the desired involvement at several companies according to those working with procurement. To create a strategic procurement, a transformation is needed. In this thesis procurement transformation describes the evolution toward a more strategic procurement. This thesis aims to investigate procurement transformation by examining the process of implementing a strategic procurement and which internal conditions affect the implementation. To emphasize the purpose, the Master’s thesis aims to answer the following research questions:• RQ1: What can the implementation process of strategic procurement, i.e., procurement transformation, look like?• RQ2: How can internal conditions affect procurement transformation? To be able to answer the research questions, a rigorous literature study was carried through. The empirical data was collected through interviews with eleven respondents working as purchasing managers or similar at their respective companies. All eleven companies have a pronounced procurement function and operate in Sweden. The empirical findings are analysed to determine the degree of strategic procurement within the eleven case companies to be able to conclude what has been done to achieve strategic procurement and thus identify what a procurement transformation can look like. Further, it is analysed how the internal conditions business strategy, management control, change management, and organisational structure can affect the transformation. The findings from this Master’s thesis show that a transformation can be compiled into four stages and starts with the initiative and will to transform. The transformation continues with increasing involvement. This includes that procurement should be included in the strategic planning, ensuring a connection between business strategy and procurement strategy. The third stage, develop, indicates that procurement must continually develop its capabilities. The last stage, sustain, revolves around sustaining and developing in line with the changing environment. Moreover, this Master’s thesis shows that the connection between business strategy and procurement strategy is vital for procurement to become strategic. Management control will affect procurement’s possibilities to search for new opportunities, take risks, and improve its way of working. The management control will affect procurement’s possibility to become strategic. Change requires change management and if the resistance towards a change is too big, it will be hard to implement. Although it can not be said with certainty that the organisational structure affects strategic procurement it has been established that the procurement structure has an impact. The analysis shows that the three most successful procurement functions, out of the eleven cases, have a centralised structure, which leads to closer collaboration with management.

В диссертации исследованы вопросы управления закупочной деятельностью корпорации и ее правового обеспечения и разработаны мероприятия по совершенствованию управления закупочной деятельностью на примере АО «РУСАЛ УРАЛ». Рассмотрены основные подходы к определению и видам закупочной деятельности. Выявлены признаки закупочной деятельности. Предложено авторское определение закупочной деятельности корпорации. Выявлены особенности закупочной деятельности, которые необходимо учитывать при совершенствовании управления ею. Выявлены особенности современных отношений по закупкам в России и их правового регулирования, которые необходимо учитывать при управлении закупочной деятельностью. Практическая часть исследования представлена анализом управления закупочной деятельности в АО «РУСАЛ УРАЛ», предложены мероприятия для повышения эффективности этой деятельности, просчитан экономический эффект от мероприятий. / The issues of managing the procurement activities of the corporation and its legal support were investigated in the thesis, and measures were taken to improve the procurement management on the example of RUSAL URAL. The main approaches to the definition and types of procurement activities are considered. The signs of procurement are identified. The author’s definition of a corporation’s procurement activity has been proposed, and the distinctive features of this definition from those existing in science have been highlighted. The features of procurement activities that must be considered when improving its management are identified. The features of modern relations on procurement in Russia and its legal regulation, which must be considered when managing procurement activities, are revealed. The practical part of the study is presented by the analysis of the management of procurement activities in RUSAL URAL, the measures have been proposed to increase the effectiveness of this activity, and the economic effect of the measures has been calculated.

<p>The government procurement legislation – i.e. the Swedish procurement law, the EC procurement directives and the WTO’s Government Procurement Agreement – applies on public procurement. Such a procurement exists when the contractor meets the conditions stated in the directives that the organ is to be considered as a contracting auhtority. The conditions are supposed to cover the bodies that objectively are thought to take other considerations than economic when purchasing services or products. The definition of contracting authorities has, however, given rise to several interpretation problems when putting the wording into practice. Since it is the contracting authorities themselves that are responsible for their compliance with the law when purchasing, an unclear definition will result in bodies getting a possibility to, to a larger extent, evade the obligation to comply with the procurement legislation. Because of this, it is of great importance that the courts create a unitary interpretation of the definition; a clear definition serves as a means of exerting pressure. </p><p>The thesis is an investigation of the definition of contracting authority where the primary source of information consists of case law from the European Court of Justice. The purpose is to visualize the underlying philisophy of the regulation with a view to suggest an instrument for determining a body’s status as a contracting authority. Regarding the definition of contracting authority, the thesis discuss three different levels. The first level consists of an examination of the wording according to both the directives and the Swedish law, and then the interpretation of the wording by the European Court of Justice. At the following level, it is set out to illustrate differences between the definition on a national level and an EC level, respectively. Finally, it will be established what legislation technique that seems to have been used when formulating the definition of contracting authority in the directives, and also how the result of this should influence the interpretation of the term.</p>

The government procurement legislation – i.e. the Swedish procurement law, the EC procurement directives and the WTO’s Government Procurement Agreement – applies on public procurement. Such a procurement exists when the contractor meets the conditions stated in the directives that the organ is to be considered as a contracting auhtority. The conditions are supposed to cover the bodies that objectively are thought to take other considerations than economic when purchasing services or products. The definition of contracting authorities has, however, given rise to several interpretation problems when putting the wording into practice. Since it is the contracting authorities themselves that are responsible for their compliance with the law when purchasing, an unclear definition will result in bodies getting a possibility to, to a larger extent, evade the obligation to comply with the procurement legislation. Because of this, it is of great importance that the courts create a unitary interpretation of the definition; a clear definition serves as a means of exerting pressure. The thesis is an investigation of the definition of contracting authority where the primary source of information consists of case law from the European Court of Justice. The purpose is to visualize the underlying philisophy of the regulation with a view to suggest an instrument for determining a body’s status as a contracting authority. Regarding the definition of contracting authority, the thesis discuss three different levels. The first level consists of an examination of the wording according to both the directives and the Swedish law, and then the interpretation of the wording by the European Court of Justice. At the following level, it is set out to illustrate differences between the definition on a national level and an EC level, respectively. Finally, it will be established what legislation technique that seems to have been used when formulating the definition of contracting authority in the directives, and also how the result of this should influence the interpretation of the term.

Bakgrund: De senaste åren har den offentliga upphandlingen ökat i omfattning och utgör nu ca 17 procent av Sveriges BNP. Det är viktigt att de offentliga upphandlingarna utförs effektivt och i detta arbete spelar kravspecifikationen en viktig roll. En bra kravspecifikation är en förutsättning för att den upphandlande myndigheten ska få in anbud som motsvarar det de vill ha medan en bristfällig sådan kan ha stora konsekvenser för resultatet av upphandlingen. Det är dock i mycket en komplicerad uppgift att formulera krav för en tjänst, vars specifika egenskaper gör den mer svårdefinierad än en vara. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att skapa förståelse för kravspecifikationens roll i den offentliga tjänsteupphandlingen. Mer specifikt syftar studien till att undersöka vilka förutsättningarna är för att kunna utforma en bra kravspecifikation och vilka konsekvenser en bristfällig sådan kan ha för resultatet av upphandlingen. Genomförande: Med en kvalitativ ansats och genom personliga intervjuer har upphandlares syn på kravspecifikationens betydelse och svårigheter undersökts. Fyra semistrukturerade personliga intervjuer har genomförts med fyra erfarna upphandlare, från fyra olika offentliga organisationer - två landsting och två kommuner. Slutsats: Studiens resultat visar att det är viktigt med god kunskap om marknaden och medvetenhet om verksamhetens behov för att en relevant kravspecifikation ska kunna utformas. En relevant och bra kravspecifikation motverkar ökade transaktionskostnader och ökar möjligheterna att den tjänst som verksamheten är i behov av levereras. Studiens resultat visar vidare att det är viktigare att kravspecifikationen är relevant och tydlig än att den är detaljrik och att funktionsbaserade kravspecifikationer har många fördelar. / Background: In recent years, the public procurement has increased in importance and it now represents about 17 percent of Sweden's GDP. It is important that the public procurement is carried out effectively and due to this the requirement specification plays an important role in the process. A good requirement specification is a condition for that the purchasing authority receives tenders that correspond to what they want; while a lack of such may have major implications for the outcome of the procurement. However, it is a complex task to draw up requirements for a service, whose particular characteristics make it more difficult to define than a commodity. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to create an understanding of the requirement specification's role in the public service procurement. More specifically, the study aims to examine what the conditions are to work out a good requirement specification and the consequences a lack of such may have for the outcome of the procurement. Method: With a qualitative approach and through personal interviews, the purchasers view of the importance and difficulty of the requirement specification has been examined in this study. Four semi-structured personal interviews were conducted with four senior purchasers from four different public organizations - two counties and two municipalities. Results: The findings of this study indicate that good knowledge about the market and awareness of the organization’s needs is important for the formulation of a relevant requirement specification. A relevant and good requirement specification counteract high transaction costs and increase the possibility of delivery of the, by the organization, requested and needed service. Further, this research imply that it is more important for the requirement specification to be relevant and clear than to be detailed, and that function based specifications have many benefits.

75 ABSTRACT The goal of my diploma thesis is to complexly analyze the institute of estimated value of a public procurement and issues related to it, while reflecting relevant decisions of the authorities competent to reviewing a public procurement, that is the Court of Justice of the European Union (the European Court of Justice), the Supreme Administrative Court, the Regional Court in Brno and the Office for the Protection of Competition. The relevant case-law is mentioned in the whole text in accordance with scheme of thesis as it is described below. Doctrinal interpretations are also taken into account. Among the most common mistakes made by contracting authorities, who are required to act in accordance with Act no. 137/2006 Coll., is wrongly determined estimated value of a public procurement. In this context it is necessary to point out that the determination is very important especially for the right categorization of contracts according to their values, which affects how strict conditions would apply for the specific contract. The work is conceived as a summary of the decision-making practice. This kind of conception was chosen primarily because of the fact that the Czech Republic (and other obliged countries) are required to implement the new procurement directives of the European Union (until April...

I Sverige upphandlar den offentliga sektorn produkter och tjänster för ungefär 680 miljarder kronor varje år. År 2016 genererade detta utsläpp av 12,3 miljoner ton koldioxidekvivalenter vilket kan jämföras med Sveriges totala mängd utsläpp år 2018 som var 51,8 miljoner ton koldioxidekvivalenter. Offentliga upphandlingar bör bidra till hållbar utveckling genom att analysera inköpsprocessen på flera nivåer. Ansvarig myndighet för upphandlingar inom det offentliga är Upphandlingsmyndigheten som både har verktyg och metoder för att minska inköps- och upphandlingsprocessen miljöpåverkan. Då kunskap inom detta område är mycket begränsad var syftet med denna studie att belysa frågan gällande de utmaningar som finns med att ställa miljökrav inom kommunala upphandlingar. Studien genomfördes som en flerfallstudie med fem falldeltagare. Den datainsamling som krävts för att besvara studiens frågeställning har skett genom intervjuer med de deltagande kommunerna. Intervjuerna som genomfördes var av semistrukturerad karaktär och i varierande utförande. De deltagande kommunerna i studien menade samtliga att utmaningarna i olika utsträckning handlar om bristen på kunskap, engagemang och resurser och att utmaningarna kan variera mellan olika kommuner. Samtliga deltagande kommuner menade att miljökrav skall ställas i ett tidigt skede och att uppföljning är en mycket viktig del i arbetet med miljökrav. Deltagarna menade att storleken på kommunen kan ha en betydelse för dess möjlighet att ställa miljökrav, bland annat på grund av tillgången till resurser. Gällande lagstiftning menade de flesta kommunerna att denna inte påverkade deras möjligheter att ställa miljökrav. De övergripande förändringar som kommunerna menade skulle kunna underlätta arbetet med miljökrav inom upphandlingarna var att få tillgång till en stödfunktion vilken i sak också kunde variera beroende på kommun. Sammanfattningsvis visade denna studie att alla deltagande kommuner fann utmaningar inom arbetet med att ställa miljökrav inom upphandlingar och att det krävs förändring för att prestera bättre ur ett miljömässigt perspektiv. Detta bland annat genom det övergripande behovet av en miljövetande stödfunktion för att i längden kunna utföra dessa uppgifter utan att urholka den egna verksamhetens grundläggande arbete. / In Sweden, the public sector procures products and services for approximately SEK 680 billion each year. In 2016, this generated emissions of 12.3 million tons of CO2 eq. In year 2018 Sweden's total amount of emissions was 51.8 million tons of CO2 eq. Public procurement should contribute to sustainable development by analyzing the purchasing process on several levels. The responsible authority for public procurement is Upphandlingsmyndigheten, which has both tools and methods for influencing the procurement process to have less environmental impact. Since knowledge in this area is very limited, the purpose of this study was to shed light on the challenges of setting environmental requirements in municipal procurement. The study was conducted as a case study with several case participants. The data collection required to answer the research question was conducted through interviews with the participating municipalities. The interviews conducted were of a semi-structured nature and varied in approach. Participating municipalities in this study all claimed that the challenges to different extent were about the lack of knowledge, commitment, and resources and that all of these could vary depending on the municipalities. All participating municipalities claimed that environmental requirements should be set at an early stage and that follow-up is a very important part of the process of environmental requirements. The participants claimed that the size of the municipality may have a bearing on its ability to set environmental requirements, partly because of the availability of resources. In current legislation, most municipalities claimed that this did not affect their ability to set environmental requirements. The overall changes that the municipalities claimed would make the process of environmental requirements easier to use in the procurement process would be to add a supporting function which would vary depending on the municipalities needs. In summary, this study showed that all participating municipalities deal with different challenges in the process of using environmental requirements in procurement and that change is required to perform better from an environmental perspective. This is partly due to the overall need for an environmentally aware support function that can carry out the environmental requirement process in the long term without eroding the core purpose of the organization.