Need for speed most wanted: red tape effect on procurement time

Purpose Often, public procurement is perceived to be too slow. One prominent factor that impedes procurement time is the so-called “red tape” problem. Red tape represents formal or informal constraints to an organisation’s freedom, i.e. rules and regulation but also influence on key stakeholders. These constraints can lead to procedural delay. This study aims to assess the effectiveness of counter-measures to red tape and their effect on public procurement speed and time. Design/methodology/approach This research is imbedded in the case of the German defence industry. Here, several legal and regulatory measures have been taken to reduce procurement time. Using time stamps from the public procurement system of roughly 40,000 procurement procedures in an ex ante /ex post comparison analysis, this study is able to assess different counter-measures and their effectiveness. Findings In this case, the overall duration of public procurement decreased by 36.6% over seven years. Findings show that this reduction in duration is correlated with the reduction of red tape as several measures have been taken to reduce regulatory burden. Furthermore, chi-square testing shows dependency between time and red tape. Social implications While it is not new that superfluous rules and regulations require critical assessment in public procurement, this study is able to demonstrate the effectiveness of top-down laws and directives which aim to reduce procurement durations. Beyond that, the study calls for the introduction of standardised speed metrics to better monitor performance−time relations in public procurement. Originality/value Previous research examined red tape predominantly from a perceptive point of view. In contrast, this study leverages empirical time stamps obtained from an actual procurement system.