Bureaucratic competence and procurement outcomes

Arbeitspapier

To what extent does a more competent public bureaucracy contribute to better economic outcomes? We address this question in the context of the US federal procurement of services and works, by combining contract-level data on procurement performance and bureau-level data on competence and workforce characteristics. We use the death occurrences of specific types of employees as instruments and find that an increase in bureau competence causes a significant and economically important reduction in: i) time delays, ii) cost overruns, and iii) number of renegotiations. Cooperation within the office appears to be a key driver of the findings.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: ZEW Discussion Papers ; No. 19-057

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Auctions ; Structure, Scope, and Performance of Government ; National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: Procurement
• Subject: buyer quality ; competence ; procurement ; public management ; state capacity

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Decarolis, Francesco ; Giuffrida, Leonardo ; Iossa, Elisabetta ; Mollisi, Vincenzo ; Spagnolo, Giancarlo
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): ZEW - Leibniz-Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung
• (where): Mannheim
• (when): 2019

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/209576
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET