Digitalisation of public procurement: The case study of Ukraine

Theoretical background: There is an ongoing global acceleration of automation and digitalisation in financial processes, which points to significant changes in public spending policies. After an analysis of several scientific studies, fundamental approaches have been elaborated to understand public consumption and the system of state purchases. The basic hypothesis for this research was to study the possible impact of the electronic procurement market ProZorro on state purchases in Ukraine. Possible directions are: increasing competitiveness, optimising state expenditures and saving the budget funds of public services based on innovative digital technology.Purpose of the article: The main goal is to investigate the impact of the electronic public procurement system ProZorro on corruption and bureaucracy in the public sector of Ukraine. The study object is an analysis of the volume and structure of the public procurement market, the number of procedures and participants in a bidding process, and the savings amounts in ProZorro’s public purchases during the study period in Ukraine.Research methods: The following methods were used during the research of the Ukrainian electronic procurement system: dialectical method; analysis and synthesis method – for a comparison of certain types of public procurement; subthreshold and suprathreshold statistical methods – for analysing the dynamics of indicators of the domestic system of public procurement during the period under research for a comparison of the indicators of public consumption of certain ministries and departments, different regions and territorial entities; structural and logical analysis – for generalising the theoretical and methodological principles of building a public consumption system in Ukraine. The main source of data was the data and analytical base of the ProZorro electronic public procurement system.Main findings: Effects of the innovative digital paradigm on the transparency and efficiency of public procurement are determined. Considerable attention is paid to the implementation of the electronic public procurement system ProZorro in Ukraine. The expediency is substantiated for its implementation in the national practice of budget expenditures, and the principles and procedures of implementation are analysed. The practice and dynamics of the public procurement market in Ukraine are summarised. The conclusions of the advantages of electronic system are provided, including transparency and impartiality, stimulation of competition and non-discrimination of bidding participants, reduction of corruption and the effect of reducing the savings of budget funds. Potential risks, threats and disadvantages of the ProZorro system in Ukraine are highlighted. Among them are: a high proportion of non-competitive procedures; possible latent conflict regarding the participants’ interests; unreasonable time spent on individual procedures; the justification of the procurement procedure to one participant due to a dubious “urgent need”; unreasonable application of the procurement procedure to one participant due to the falsification of conditions or the division of the procurement subject; the existence of discriminatory requirements in the documentation of competitive bidding; and a lack of efficiency in the complaints handling mechanism.