Journal of Investment and Management

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Public Procurement of Winter Road Maintenance Services Based on EU Procurement Directive – Lessons from Sweden

Received: 27 August 2013    Accepted:     Published: 20 October 2013
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Abstract

Public procurement of road maintenance services, particularly in cold regions is not an easy task in order to satisfy road-users during winter. Road-users’ dissatisfaction, complaint and pressure can usually be considered as major factors for having more accessible and safe roads during winter. These pressures have contributed and led to an increasing critical approach focusing on public procurement of these services after some harsh winters in the recent years in Sweden with traffic disruption and delay as consequence i.e. an increasing focus on the way in which the Swedish state authorities and local governments procure winter road maintenance services. The present study which is part of a larger research project investigating efficient winter road maintenance through procurement, tendering and contract aimed at extending this knowledge base with regard to procurement and socioeconomic factors with focus on the winter maintenance of the Swedish road network. The study reveals that even the Swedish winter road maintenance services are procured and outsourced in accordance with EU directive and public procurement rules transposed into the Swedish act on public procurement, the act has been interpreted in a manner that all the process has led to great dissatisfaction of end-users during winter due to improper bundling of winter related services. The lack of economic motivation in current contracts concerning winter road maintenance in the form of incentives has led to an inefficient performance of winter road measures. The study suggests a number of proposals in order to make forthcoming contracts more effective through proper bundling of winter services and create incentives for contractors to improve the performance of winter road maintenance services.

DOI 10.11648/j.jim.20130204.11
Published in Journal of Investment and Management (Volume 2, Issue 4, August 2013)
Page(s) 70-86
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Public Procurement, Procurement Legislation, Tender, Contract, Incentives, Bundling Services

References
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Author Information
  • Royal Institute of Technology – KTH, Department of Transport Science, Division of Highway and Railway Engineering, Stockholm, Sweden

  • Royal Institute of Technology – KTH, Department of Real Estate and Construction Management, Division of Building and Real Estate Economics, Stockholm, Sweden

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  • APA Style

    Adel Abdi, Hans Lind, Björn Birgisson. (2013). Public Procurement of Winter Road Maintenance Services Based on EU Procurement Directive – Lessons from Sweden. Journal of Investment and Management, 2(4), 70-86. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jim.20130204.11

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    ACS Style

    Adel Abdi; Hans Lind; Björn Birgisson. Public Procurement of Winter Road Maintenance Services Based on EU Procurement Directive – Lessons from Sweden. J. Invest. Manag. 2013, 2(4), 70-86. doi: 10.11648/j.jim.20130204.11

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    AMA Style

    Adel Abdi, Hans Lind, Björn Birgisson. Public Procurement of Winter Road Maintenance Services Based on EU Procurement Directive – Lessons from Sweden. J Invest Manag. 2013;2(4):70-86. doi: 10.11648/j.jim.20130204.11

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jim.20130204.11,
      author = {Adel Abdi and Hans Lind and Björn Birgisson},
      title = {Public Procurement of Winter Road Maintenance Services Based on EU Procurement Directive – Lessons from Sweden},
      journal = {Journal of Investment and Management},
      volume = {2},
      number = {4},
      pages = {70-86},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jim.20130204.11},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jim.20130204.11},
      eprint = {https://download.sciencepg.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jim.20130204.11},
      abstract = {Public procurement of road maintenance services, particularly in cold regions is not an easy task in order to satisfy road-users during winter. Road-users’ dissatisfaction, complaint and pressure can usually be considered as major factors for having more accessible and safe roads during winter. These pressures have contributed and led to an increasing critical approach focusing on public procurement of these services after some harsh winters in the recent years in Sweden with traffic disruption and delay as consequence i.e. an increasing focus on the way in which the Swedish state authorities and local governments procure winter road maintenance services. The present study which is part of a larger research project investigating efficient winter road maintenance through procurement, tendering and contract aimed at extending this knowledge base with regard to procurement and socioeconomic factors with focus on the winter maintenance of the Swedish road network. The study reveals that even the Swedish winter road maintenance services are procured and outsourced in accordance with EU directive and public procurement rules transposed into the Swedish act on public procurement, the act has been interpreted in a manner that all the process has led to great dissatisfaction of end-users during winter due to improper bundling of winter related services. The lack of economic motivation in current contracts concerning winter road maintenance in the form of incentives has led to an inefficient performance of winter road measures. The study suggests a number of proposals in order to make forthcoming contracts more effective through proper bundling of winter services and create incentives for contractors to improve the performance of winter road maintenance services.},
     year = {2013}
    }
    

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    AB  - Public procurement of road maintenance services, particularly in cold regions is not an easy task in order to satisfy road-users during winter. Road-users’ dissatisfaction, complaint and pressure can usually be considered as major factors for having more accessible and safe roads during winter. These pressures have contributed and led to an increasing critical approach focusing on public procurement of these services after some harsh winters in the recent years in Sweden with traffic disruption and delay as consequence i.e. an increasing focus on the way in which the Swedish state authorities and local governments procure winter road maintenance services. The present study which is part of a larger research project investigating efficient winter road maintenance through procurement, tendering and contract aimed at extending this knowledge base with regard to procurement and socioeconomic factors with focus on the winter maintenance of the Swedish road network. The study reveals that even the Swedish winter road maintenance services are procured and outsourced in accordance with EU directive and public procurement rules transposed into the Swedish act on public procurement, the act has been interpreted in a manner that all the process has led to great dissatisfaction of end-users during winter due to improper bundling of winter related services. The lack of economic motivation in current contracts concerning winter road maintenance in the form of incentives has led to an inefficient performance of winter road measures. The study suggests a number of proposals in order to make forthcoming contracts more effective through proper bundling of winter services and create incentives for contractors to improve the performance of winter road maintenance services.
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