Innovative Public Procurement: An Analysis of Surveys Conducted Among Contractors in Poland and the UK

The aim of this study is to attempt to identify the conditions of innovative activity of the contractors in the public procurement system. The current state of innovative public procurement in Poland has been analysed based on data from reports of the President of Public Procurement Office (PPO). Moreover, on the basis of surveys conducted by teams from the University of Lodz and the University of Manchester, a comparative analysis of the results of logistic regression models for Poland and Great Britain has been carried out. This approach enables the identification of the favourable factors (stimulants) and barriers (destimulants) of the level of innovativeness of contractors and their involvement in the public procurement. Low innovativeness of contractors (especially in Poland) is associated with a small number of entities – innovation leaders, characterised by a large number of employees, significant financial turnover, their own highly specialised staff handling public procurement and their focus on long-term cooperation with contracting entities. British research, in turn, indicates an important role of expenditures on R&D and involvement in innovation on the product and service market. The conducted comparative analysis suggests that there is a need to improve cooperation between the different participants in public procurement, to increase the importance of technical dialogue in public procurement practice, to professionalise own staff and to promote opportunities arising from innovative public procurement.