Adapting European eProcurement policy initiatives: from a black box to white spots

The European Commission believes that inappropriate introduction of eProcurement policy in Member States carries high risks of market fragmentation in Europe. According to the Commission, the legal, technical and organisational barriers that may result from procurement online are one of the greatest challenges for policy makers. While most studies deal with legal and financial consequences of EU policy, this study aims on the practical ‘street-level’ implementation of the European Commission’s eProcurement policy initiatives in the Netherlands. The main research question of this study is: ‘to what extents have the Dutch national administrations adapted themselves to the European Commission’s eProcurement policy initiatives?’ In this research eProcurement is defined as ‘the (a) whole process and (b) different functionalities of electronic purchasing of goods and services within the public-private and public-public sectors, by public institutions or governmental organisations, in order to equip itself and fulfil its economic, legal, political and social mission’. I will use theories on ‘Europeanisation’ which are most often associated with the domestic adaption to policies emanating directly or indirectly from European Union membership. I will consider Europeanisation as the central penetration of national systems of governance which affects public policy. I will use a top down perspective and focus on the European factors in adapting eProcurement policy by the Dutch national administrations. A political approach to public policy provides the dominant mechanism of explanation of the extents of adaptation. I will analyse the ‘goodness of policy fit’, which consists out a qualitative measurement of the discrepancy between observed public policy on the European level and the expected public policy on the Dutch national level. This is a single-case study to the adaptation of European policy by Member States whereby the Netherlands is an embedded unit of analysis and illustrate how European policy can affect national policy. The respondents and policy actors involved in the adaptation of eProcurement policy are identified with a snow balling technique. My understanding of the adaptation is primary based on data from document analysis and secondarily, on data from semi-structured interviews. The main conclusion is that the extents of adaptation by the Dutch national administrations to the European Commission’s eProcurement policy initiatives is limited to corresponding interests on both levels of reducing the administrative burdens and create transparency in the procurement process. There are several white spots or policy misfits between the two levels, which supports my argument that the Netherlands clearly has only chosen to work with the obliged measurements like legal instruments, but has limited itself towards different solutions. With this study, I recommend the Dutch national administrations to: 1) start making major cost reductions by using electronic means in the procurement process 2) make a need analysis that provides arguments to create a sufficient policy map that serves public as well as private stakeholders and 3) reconsider their definition of eProcurement, and to seek connections with the European one, making a shift to working towards an European interoperable system.