Centralizing Public Procurement in China: Task environment and organizational structure

Abstract

This article explores current environment and practices of public procurement in China, aiming to summarize the task environment and to find a favourable organizational structure. We selected three representative procurement centres and conducted an in-depth field study on their purchasing practices. Given China's political and administrative context, we conclude that the task environment should consist of a strong Decision-Making Team, a unified supervisory agency, constituent institutions and vendors. We recommend a unified procurement centre with a functional structure as a favourable choice. The key departments of a procurement centre include Purchasing/Tendering, Contract Management and Inventory Allocation.

Key words:

• Public procurement
• China
• task environment
• organizational structure

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This article is funded by the project of ‘985’ in China. The research is supported by the key discipline funding of the Department of Public Administration at Renmin University of China and by a National Natural Science Foundation of China research grant, No. 71273266.