Procurement as Infrastructure — Tips on how to Crack a Nut – Cyber Tech

In a brand new paper co-authored with Nathan Davies (Oxford Web Institute), we revisit the theoretical conceptualisation of procurement and make the declare that it’s infrastructure.

We argue for a basic shift in how public procurement is known: not simply as a regulatory or transactional software, however as a foundational type of infrastructure that shapes state capability and digital transformation.

That is very a lot a piece in progress — we welcome feedback, critiques, and collaboration as we develop it additional!

The summary is as follows:

Public procurement constitutes a basic governance mechanism by which states work together with markets. It’s a huge and consequential operate of presidency, accounting for about one-third of public expenditure in most economies. Current public administration scholarship has predominantly conceptualised procurement by legal-regulatory, financial, or administrative views. While beneficial, these approaches insufficiently theorise procurement’s function in structuring governance prospects and enabling or hindering state capability. This paper advances a novel theoretical intervention by reconceptualizing procurement itself as infrastructure moderately than merely as a mechanism for buying or outsourcing it. Drawing on Susan Leigh Star’s influential work in infrastructure research (Star, 1999), we systematically analyse how procurement techniques—comprising authorized frameworks, administrative routines, skilled practices, and technological platforms—operate as embedded socio-technical infrastructures that allow and constrain governance. Supported by an examination of illustrative UK instances, together with the Carillion collapse, Put up Workplace scandal and COVID-19 PPE procurement failures, we argue that these aren’t remoted implementation failures however manifestations of infrastructural breakdown ensuing from systemic overload coupled with upkeep neglect. This reconceptualization bridges public administration scholarship with anthropological and socio-legal views and descriptions avenues for future analysis. For policymakers, our evaluation emphasises that procurement requires sustained funding and a spotlight, and applicable use, moderately than superficial regulatory changes that neglect its foundational capability to construction governance outcomes.

The complete paper is freely downloadable on SSRN: Davies, Nathan and Sanchez-Graells, Albert, Procurement as Infrastructure (June 16, 2025): https://ssrn.com/summary=5297077.

Picture credit: Elise Racine & The Larger Image / /