Micro business participation in government procurement: prozorro experience

Abstract

Purpose. Analysis of the dynamics of micro businesses participation in public procurement in Ukraine in 2017–2018 made via Ukrainian online public procurement system ProZorro. methodology. The results are obtained by applying general scientific and specialized research methods (comparison, generalization, typology, abstraction, correlation analysis) as well as systematic and logical approaches related to implementation of public procurement theory to practice. findings. It was found that private entrepreneurs are fullfledged participants of public procurement system in Ukraine in the context of considerable increase in the average sum of tenders in which they have participated. The government procurement, in which private entrepreneurs took part, had a higher level of competition compared to the public procurement system in general. In terms of value, private entrepreneurs’ participation in competitive negotiation procedures for defense needs has increased considerably. The analysis of territorial localization of private entrepreneurs’ activities did not reveal any significant dependence of activity of private entrepreneurs registered in a particular region in the main procurement procedures on the factors of economic and demographic development of regionsorganizers of the procedures. The participation of private entrepreneurs in procurement procedures organized at their local (regional) level has significantly decreased for most regions of Ukraine. originality. This research provides empirical evidence of the level of participation of micro businesses in public procurement on the base of the ProZorro professional analytics module, which is an online instrument for aggregation, sorting and other processing of machinereadable data on public procurement in Ukraine. Practical value. Research results can be used by government authorities for developing the strategy for engagement of private entrepreneurs to public procurement as well as for adjusting the practice of using the public procurement system for their effective participation.