Leadership & Knowledge in Decentralized Public Procurement

In 2015 the Dutch national government decentralised youth care and homecare services to municipalities. With the decentralisation the national government aimed to combine cost reductions with better care. However, with the... [ view full abstract ]

In 2015 the Dutch national government decentralised youth care and homecare services to municipalities. With the decentralisation the national government aimed to combine cost reductions with better care. However, with the decentralisation municipalities also became responsible for procuring those services. Procurers in the municipalities that were previously responsible for the procurement of goods and services such as street lights, school busses and garbage trucks are now faced with a whole new package of services, with completely different requirements, suppliers and clients/patients. Research into procurement shows that a lack of knowledge among procurers negatively influences what is procured in the end (Grandia et al. 2015). A lack of knowledge requires them to rely on existing knowledge that is no longer appropriate in this situation, making them even more dependent on their principals for pointing them in the desired direction. In municipalities in the Netherlands the city council determines the criteria and performance indicators for the procurements the procurers carry out. However, much like the procurers themselves they are new to youth and home care services. Which is problematic as in the process of organisational change leaders need to be competent and trained (Kavanagh & Ashkanasy, 2006). Based on two nested case studies in two Dutch municipalities this paper shows that leadership indeed matters and appears to be linked to the degree of knowledge and capability of the leader. The more capable and knowledgeable the leader is, the easier it is for him to be a transformational leader and provide the civil servants with the freedom they need to do their jobs and start the transformation of the youth and homecare services.