Utmaningar och möjligheter i upphandlingsprocessen - för att kunna digitalisera på ett innovativt sätt i offentlig verksamhet

Sammanfattning: Approximately, digital transformation in public sector is procured for an amount of 59 billion Swedish crowns, according to Konkurrensverket. But despite this, the procurement process is not that effective, which may question the benefits of the investment being made. The Swedish Government has a goal to be the best in the world to utilize the opportunities that digitalization gives to the public sector, but according to Ekonomistyrningsverket, this goal is not considered to be fulfilled since there are some shortcomings in the area. Some argue that public procurement of innovation can contribute to a solution that is better suited to public needs, which is one of the reasons that the agency of innovation Vinnova was commissioned by the government to promote public procurement of innovation in the public sector. The procurement process is governed by laws and therefore the communication between customer and supplier is limited as no supplier are allowed to have competitive advantages in the procurement. This means that the requirement specification is important for public sector to fill their needs, but it claims that the process of requirements can be very complicated. The purpose of the study is to deepen the knowledge of procurement as an aspect to digitalize in an innovative way. This will be done by identifying the challenges and opportunities that exists in the procurement process. The study is conducted through an qualitative method and a literature study and interviews are used to collect data. Initially, the area is explored in a broader perspective with an exploratory approach and the collected material are further specified into a more specific area where a more focused approach is used. The results of the study indicate that there are both challenges and opportunities in the procurement process. The challenges that were identified concern the areas; specification of requirements, limits with the Public Procurement Act (PPA), the concept & meaning of public procurement of innovation and the competence of the Swedish innovation agency. Furthermore, the possibilities that were identified concern the areas; the competence of the Swedish innovation agency, specification of requirements, PPA & new way of working with the procurement process and the trend of being innovative.