A Generic Architecture for the Digitization of Government Procurement Processes

The implementation of government information systems has been a means to improve social, political, and economic conditions and the quality of life of its citizens. However, the systems of the governments are very different and even within a country there are distinctions between the federal, state, local and agency levels according to their specific context and capabilities. Among the governmental systems, electronic procurement is critical as they are related to a significant part of public spending. The purpose of this paper is to describe an assessment of the current state of digitization of procurement processes of innovative governments to deduce components of a common architecture from their best practices experiences that can be utilized for benchmark evaluation. This study employed an Action Design Research approach to identify, stakeholders, processes, system applications, technological components, and standards of a generic architecture for e-procurement. As a result, it was possible to deduce from countries implemented cases and validate through an organization benchmarking action case a generic architecture with four main system components: (1) e-planning of government procurement, (2) e-selection of suppliers, and (3) e-provisioning of goods and services from suppliers (4) e-services to citizens. The most developed component in government cases is e-selection, however, further developments should be carried out in e-planning and e-provisioning, mainly the integration with e-services. This work demonstrates how management research can create references for digital transformation. As a practical implication, the architectural model provides professionals with a tool for benchmark assessments, for decision-make on the evolution of functionalities and system requirements for government e-procurement.