Public purchases: a systematic review of challenges and opportunities

Abstract

Introduction: Public procurement is an important mechanism that takes public policies into effect, represents a large part of the Administration’s expenses and puts pressure on managers to seek more governance of public expenditures. Thus, this article briefly exposes the risks and challenges related to public procurement; Method: It consists of a systematic review of the literature and qualitative analysis of the results in two stages: one focusing on the analysis of the collected data and the other on aspects related to the risks and challenges presented in the research. Results: It identifies 272 articles, of which it selects 36 for data extraction. It highlights the themes: governance, sustainability, e-government, local development and sustainability. Conclusion: the challenges facing public procurement operators are diverse, highlighting factors such as confusing legislation, lack of planning, knowledge and synergy by those responsible, factors that can reduce results or frustrate the acquisition. The use of electronic systems, associated with the training and involvement of purchasing managers, can be an important tool to promote planning, reduce risks related to deviations in purposes and overcome the challenges that are observed in public procurement, opening up the field so that they can be an instrument for the implementation of economic, sustainable and development policies in full.