DOES THE VALUE OF PROCUREMENT INFLUENCE THE PERFORMANCE IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT?

Public procurement is an essential process for the proper functioning of public institutions, allowing the acquisition of goods and services that support the functioning of institutions. Award procedures are complexes processes, requiring strict timelines and phases, and the duration of an award procedure can vary considerably depending on multiple variables. This research aims to analyze the duration of tender procedures published by Romanian universities, to determine the overall average of these durations and to investigate whether universities that have published procedures with higher contract values or with a higher cumulative value overall have shorter or longer durations than the overall average. Estimated contract values were also analyzed in order to understand the relationship between the size of the contracts and the duration of the award procedures. The main hypothesis of the research is that procedures with higher contract values are more complex and thus require a longer time to complete. The research methodology was based on the statistical analysis of data extracted from the Romanian Electronic Public Procurement System. The conclusions of the study underline the importance of identifying and understanding the factors influencing the duration of procurement procedures within universities as they are essential for the optimization of procurement processes.