IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/bdi/opques/qef_803_23.html

Procurement managers and effective tendering: The case of Italian public works contracts

Author

Listed:
  • Audinga Baltrunaite

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Enza Maltese

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Tommaso Orlando

    (Bank of Italy)

  • Gabriele Rovigatti

    (Bank of Italy)

Abstract

This paper studies whether and how much procurement managers matter for effective procurement outcomes. We utilize detailed data on Italian procurement for public works, and on the identity of public officials responsible for their tendering and execution. Our analysis shows that, ceteris paribus and even within the same procuring agency, the managers' identity matters for effective procurement. We further leverage institutional reforms that tightened the eligibility criteria for procurement managing roles as a natural experiment to evaluate the correlation between managerial quality and procurement performance. Key performance indicators include the duration of administrative procedures for tender awarding and the completion time for public works. Our findings suggest a direct positive relationship between the caliber of procurement managers and the expediency of both tender awarding and project completion.

Suggested Citation

  • Audinga Baltrunaite & Enza Maltese & Tommaso Orlando & Gabriele Rovigatti, 2023. "Procurement managers and effective tendering: The case of Italian public works contracts," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 803, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    • Handle: RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_803_23
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.bancaditalia.it/pubblicazioni/qef/2023-0803/QEF_803_23.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Audinga Baltrunaite & Cristina Giorgiantonio & Sauro Mocetti & Tommaso Orlando, 2021. "Discretion and Supplier Selection in Public Procurement," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 37(1), pages 134-166.
    2. Oriana Bandiera & Michael Carlos Best & Adnan Qadir Khan & Andrea Prat, 2021. "The Allocation of Authority in Organizations: A Field Experiment with Bureaucrats," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(4), pages 2195-2242.
    3. Francesco Decarolis & Leonardo M Giuffrida & Elisabetta Iossa & Vincenzo Mollisi & Giancarlo Spagnolo, 2020. "Bureaucratic Competence and Procurement Outcomes [“Politics and Economics in Weak and Strong States]," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 36(3), pages 537-597.
    4. Tirole, Jean, 1986. "Procurement and Renegotiation," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(2), pages 235-259, April.
    5. Francesco Decarolis & Raymond Fisman & Paolo Pinotti & Silvia Vannutelli & Yongxiang Wang, 2023. "Gender and Bureaucratic Corruption: Evidence from Two Countries," The Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, Oxford University Press, vol. 39(2), pages 557-585.
    6. Leonardo M. Giuffrida & Gabriele Rovigatti, 2022. "Supplier selection and contract enforcement: Evidence from performance bonding," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 980-1019, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chiappinelli, Olga & Giuffrida, Leonardo M. & Spagnolo, Giancarlo, 2025. "Public procurement as an innovation policy: Where do we stand?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. A. Baltrunaite & T. Orlando & G. Rovigatti, 2024. "The Making of Public Works in Italy: Institutional Features and Regional Characteristics," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 10(3), pages 1195-1232, November.
    2. Audinga Baltrunaite & Tommaso Orlando & Gabriele Rovigatti, 2021. "The implementation of public works in Italy: institutional features and regional characteristics," Questioni di Economia e Finanza (Occasional Papers) 659, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    3. Tukiainen, Janne & Blesse, Sebastian & Bohne, Albrecht & Giuffrida, Leonardo M. & Jääskeläinen, Jan & Luukinen, Ari & Sieppi, Antti, 2024. "What are the priorities of bureaucrats? Evidence from conjoint experiments with procurement officials," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    4. Cappelletti, Matilde & Giuffrida, Leonardo M., 2022. "Targeted bidders in government tenders," ZEW Discussion Papers 22-030, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    5. Rodrigo Carril & Andres Gonzalez-Lira & Michael S. Walker, 2026. "Competition under Incomplete Contracts and the Design of Procurement Policies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 116(2), pages 535-581, February.
    6. Clark, Robert & Coviello, Decio & de Leverano, Adriano, 2021. "Centralized procurement and delivery times: Evidence from a natural experiment in Italy," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-063, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    7. Kim, Galileu & Kumar, Tanu & Ramalho, Rita & Russell, Stuart Ehrlich, 2026. "Institutional Capacity for Policy Implementation : An Analytical Framework," Policy Research Working Paper Series 11279, The World Bank.
    8. Martinez-Carrasco, José & ConceiçaÞo, Otavio & Dezolt, Ana Lúcia, 2023. "More Information, Lower Price? Access Market-based Reference Prices and Gains in Public Procurement Efficiency," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12754, Inter-American Development Bank.
    9. Belev, S. & Veterinarov, V. & Matveev, E., 2023. "Vertical collusion in public procurement: Estimation based on data for R&D composite auctions," Journal of the New Economic Association, New Economic Association, vol. 59(2), pages 36-63.
    10. Marly Tatiana Celis Galvez & Vitezslav Titl & Fredo Schotanus, 2025. "Discretion and political favoritism: Evidence from two reforms in public procurement," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 91(3), pages 915-968, January.
    11. Gallego, Jorge & Prem, Mounu & Vargas, Juan F., 2020. "Corruption in the Times of Pandemia," Working papers 43, Red Investigadores de Economía.
    12. Leonardo M. Giuffrida & Gabriele Rovigatti, 2022. "Supplier selection and contract enforcement: Evidence from performance bonding," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 31(4), pages 980-1019, November.
    13. De Leverano, Adriano & Coviello, Decio & Clark, Robert, 2023. "Centralized Procurement and Delivery Times: Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Italy," VfS Annual Conference 2023 (Regensburg): Growth and the "sociale Frage" 277589, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    14. Chiappinelli, Olga & Giuffrida, Leonardo M. & Spagnolo, Giancarlo, 2023. "Public procurement as an innovation policy: Where do we stand?," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-002, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    15. Cingano, Federico & Palomba, Filippo & Pinotti, Paolo & Rettore, Enrico, 2022. "Making Subsidies Work: Rules vs. Discretion," IZA Discussion Papers 15172, IZA Network @ LISER.
    16. Giuffrida, Leonardo M. & Raiteri, Emilio, 2021. "Buyers' workload and R&D procurement outcomes: Evidence from the US Air Force Research Lab," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-059, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    17. Liu, Kevin Zhengcheng & Zhang, Xiaoming, 2025. "Discretion, talent allocation, and governance performance: Evidence from China’s imperial bureaucracy," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    18. Clarissa Lotti & Giancarlo Spagnolo, 2022. "Indirect Savings from Public Procurement Centralization," CEIS Research Paper 532, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 01 Feb 2022.
    19. Bastian Krieger & Lena Füner & Malte Prüfer, 2026. "The participation of young firms in public procurement," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 67(1), pages 461-492, June.
    20. Erica Bosio & Simeon Djankov & Edward Glaeser & Andrei Shleifer, 2022. "Public Procurement in Law and Practice," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(4), pages 1091-1117, April.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D73 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Bureaucracy; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations; Corruption
    • H54 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Infrastructures
    • H57 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Procurement
    • R58 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Regional Development Planning and Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bdi:opques:qef_803_23. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bdigvit.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.