A Framework for the Adoption of Blockchain-Based e-Procurement Systems in the Public Sector: A Case Study of Nigeria

Abstract

Public procurement constitutes a core government function for providing goods and services to citizens. The overall success of a digitized public-procurement function yields progress and economic growth for the nation. In this research, we analyze the potential of blockchain-based systems to enhance effectiveness, ease, and transparency in public procurement in the case of Nigeria and identify the current challenges facing public procurement, i.e., lack of trust and transparency among critical stakeholders in the procurement process, systems that only weakly support transaction recording and documentation, complex process structures, corruption in institutions involved in the procurement process. To address these issues, a blockchain-based framework is developed to enable interoperability of information-systems involved in the procurement process, increase citizen participation in eliciting project requirements and to enable a more transparent project monitoring and auditing. We apply the framework to a case study with respect to identifying on-chain activities that enable system interoperability, e-participation and project auditability.