LIST OF PANELS

Public procurement is gaining increasing attention as an instrument for good governance and stability (Arrowsmith and Anderson, 2011; Hughes et al, 2018; Knight et al., 2007). It is used to increase economic efficiency, regulate service delivery relationships (PPPs), encourage sustainable environmental outcomes, expand open contracting to increase transparency, deliver social outcomes and create socially just supply chains.

The range of relevant issues is thus quite broad:

• Procurement agencies in different countries face different combinations of pressures. For example, in some countries, highly centralized austerity programs mandate reduced spending; in other countries, the emphasis is on encouraging innovative forms of cooperation among bidders to improve service delivery. 
• Digitally-enabled marketplaces offer the opportunity for technology to break down barriers to better procurement, making government purchasing needs widely known and thus open to a wider array of potential bidders. 
• Capability with respect to procurement is underdeveloped in how the public sector engages with the private and voluntary and community sectors. 
• Theoretical treatment of these topics is multidisciplinary and ranges from agency theory and transactions cost theory, to regulatory theory, to social justice.

In sum, procurement policy and related activity has a significant impact on the public purse and on how effective governments can be at all levels.

The objective of this panel is to draw together scholars studying various aspects of public procurement, including procurement and trade, innovative methods of contracting, digitally enabled procurement, sustainability and procurement, participation by small and medium-sized enterprises, big data and procurement, and other related topics.

We invite researchers and graduate students to a multi-disciplinary panel about public procurement. We seek papers that address issues regarding the impacts and barriers to more effective procurement, and exciting developments associated with procurement policy.  Empirical work and conceptual or theoretical work will be considered, including comparative studies.