Some award methods are more prone to problems than others : an empirical analysis of the relationship between award methods in the economically most advantageous tender and problems in Dutch public procurement.

Recent theoretical developments suggest that some award methods are more susceptible to problems than others. This proposition is important to public organizations in the application of award methods in Dutch public procurements. In order to contribute to the current process and practices within the award phase, we have selected ten frequently occurring practices (hereafter named ‘elements’) based on theoretical grounds and sought to identify whether the presence or exclusion of these elements is significantly related to problems. We hypothesize that these ten elements are more present in problematic procurements than non-problematic procurements. The results indicate that six elements are significantly more present in problematic procurements than non-problematic procurements.