Understanding the Determinants and Specifics of Pre-Commercial Procurement

The purpose of this paper was to identify the most significant factors and issues concerning a successful Pre-Commercial Procurement in the Slovak and Czech markets and to validate a conceptual model developed to describe relations within all procurement phases with more detailed exploratory attributes. Number of price changes within the negotiation phase (generally in electronic dynamic pricing environment) and volume of procurement were identified as the most crucial determinants of savings, with a positive and negative effect on the success of Pre-Commercial Procurement respectively. Selection of auction type affects the number of participants and number of new participants in the auction, with less transparent auction types being more attractive for suppliers than transparent types. Further, Pre-Commercial Procurement was compared to traditional procurement of common products and services, identifying differences in number of participants and total volume of auctions. A survey conducted identified the critical need to improve innovation driven sourcing ecosystem to make the market more transparent for identification of suitable suppliers but also for the procurer to be more visible on the market when procurement is taking the place. The developed conceptual framework with tested relations can be a guide to proper Pre-Commercial Procurement procurement setting.