Summary of empirical findings and interpretation
| Category | MunOrg | ResOrg | Empirical patterns |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organization and setting | Municipality | Research organization | |
| Contractual partner(s) | Two plus two years cleaning service contracts with eight local and national cleaning companies | Project-based contract with large European engineering company | |
| Original contract | Contractual template based on the standard INSTA800 for regulating roles/responsibilities (coordination-oriented terms). Weak terms regulating termination and no penalties for failed quality controls (control-oriented terms) | Extensive contract based on detailed technical specifications (coordination-oriented terms) and strong liquidated damages/termination clauses in the case of delays and coordination problems (control-oriented terms) | |
| Contractual learning | Added penalty clauses for failed quality controls, stricter terms for contract termination and more extensive terms concerning sustainability requirements (control-oriented terms) | Changes of liquidated damages terms following unforeseen contingencies resulting in delays and coordination problems (control-oriented terms) | Endogenously driven change of control-oriented terms Control-oriented terms were changed in response to new experiences and insights made in the procurement process (more extensive terms in the case of MunOrg and less extensive in the case of ResOrg) |
| Functional specialization | Procurement unit significantly expanded, which allowed for specialized sections and more rigorously codified processes Creation of specialized technical unit (cleaning support) for contract governance and quality control of procured cleaning services | Expansion of the procurement unit and development of codified procurement processes according to a new procurement strategy made the process more predictable and transparent Specialized economic, technical and legal functions perform distinctive tasks in the procurement process | Centralization of procurement activity drives specialization, standardization and the codification of processes Knowledge development and retention is supported by centralization, well-defined functions and the standardization of procurement activity |
| Economic-technical integration | The procurement unit is responsible for activities leading up to contract signing (economic analysis, contract design, tender) and cleaning support manages later activities related to contract governance, supplier communication and quality controls; important events during the contract governance phase are reported back to procurement unit and cleaning support give input on contract design choices | The procurement unit is responsible for activities leading up to contract signing activities (economic analysis, contract design and tender) and the responsible technical unit is responsible for later activities related to contract governance, supplier communication and quality controls; the responsible technical unit “owns” the contract throughout the process and reports critical events to the procurement unit | Economic-technical integration facilitates feedback mechanisms between contract design and contract governance Feedback on contractual design choices is gained during the contract governance phase by the technical unit managing this phase; contractual learning is dependent on interfunctional feedback between economic and technical units |
| Economic-legal integration | Legal specialists are normally not involved in the procurement process (administrative lawyer at procurement unit works primarily with legal disputes) | Integration of the legal unit into the procurement unit to lower interfunctional learning barriers in the procurement process | Legal silo Knowledge about control-oriented terms is typically held by legal specialists and legal-economic functional barrier may prevent feedback across units that limit the development and adaptation of control-oriented terms |
| Category | MunOrg | ResOrg | Empirical patterns |
|---|---|---|---|
| Organization and setting | Municipality | Research organization | |
| Contractual partner(s) | Two plus two years cleaning service contracts with eight local and national cleaning companies | Project-based contract with large European engineering company | |
| Original contract | Contractual template based on the standard INSTA800 for regulating roles/responsibilities (coordination-oriented terms). Weak terms regulating termination and no penalties for failed quality controls (control-oriented terms) | Extensive contract based on detailed technical specifications (coordination-oriented terms) and strong liquidated damages/termination clauses in the case of delays and coordination problems (control-oriented terms) | |
| Contractual learning | Added penalty clauses for failed quality controls, stricter terms for contract termination and more extensive terms concerning sustainability requirements (control-oriented terms) | Changes of liquidated damages terms following unforeseen contingencies resulting in delays and coordination problems (control-oriented terms) | |
| Functional specialization | Procurement unit significantly expanded, which allowed for specialized sections and more rigorously codified processes Creation of specialized technical unit (cleaning support) for contract governance and quality control of procured cleaning services | Expansion of the procurement unit and development of codified procurement processes according to a new procurement strategy made the process more predictable and transparent Specialized economic, technical and legal functions perform distinctive tasks in the procurement process | |
| Economic-technical integration | The procurement unit is responsible for activities leading up to contract signing (economic analysis, contract design, tender) and cleaning support manages later activities related to contract governance, supplier communication and quality controls; important events during the contract governance phase are reported back to procurement unit and cleaning support give input on contract design choices | The procurement unit is responsible for activities leading up to contract signing activities (economic analysis, contract design and tender) and the responsible technical unit is responsible for later activities related to contract governance, supplier communication and quality controls; the responsible technical unit “owns” the contract throughout the process and reports critical events to the procurement unit | |
| Economic-legal integration | Legal specialists are normally not involved in the procurement process (administrative lawyer at procurement unit works primarily with legal disputes) | Integration of the legal unit into the procurement unit to lower interfunctional learning barriers in the procurement process |
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