Public Procurement of Security Technology : A multiple case study of Swedish municipalities and regions

Municipalities and regions in Sweden have an increasing need to purchase security technology to secure their properties and their operations. However this procurement process is strictly regulated by the Swedish procurement act (“Lagen om Offentlig Upphandling”, LoU), leading to a similar procurement process. However no academic studies have been done on the procurement of security technology in local authorities.This thesis explores and maps this process and the important aspects which affect how the process is carried out. This was done via a multiple case study, primarily involving interviews with experts from seven municipalities and six regions in Sweden. It analyses the public procurement from a process perspective from the initiation via the purchase to the follow-up and monitoring. Hence, the study is using a wider definition of the procurement process than most previous studies on public procurement. The aspects which affect this procurement process were also identified in this study.The results show that the procurement process has a cyclic nature, based on framework agreements in most of the studied case organizations. This cyclic nature gives both the planning and the follow-up central parts in a successful procurement process. The main identified aspects affecting the procurement process of security technology identified were: Supplier lock-in Procurement complexity The role LoU plays in the case organizationsOther themes related to main aspects presented above are also discussed in this thesis such as the suitability to implement SecaaS (Security as a Service) in the case organizations and the stakeholder dimension. The main conceptual contribution of this thesis is the usefulness of adapting a comprehensive process perspective when studying public procurement