The Effects of Decentralization on Efficiency in Public Procurement: Empirical Evidence for the Czech Republic

2017 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michal Plaček
Keyword(s):  
Logistic Regression ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Linear Regression ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Scientific Discourse ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Different Levels

The impact of decentralization on efficiency in the production of public goods and services has been described by the current scientific discourse in some detail. In this article, we focus on an analysis of the impact of the factor of decentralization as well as other selected factors on efficiency in public procurement. We view the term efficiency to be the ratio between the tendered and the estimated price, but also as procedural correctness and legality, as it is reflected in the administration of complaints, investigations, and findings regarding violations of the law by the supervising authority. We then describe the phases of bidding and post-bidding. For empirical research, we used linear regression and logistic regression. These methods are applied to data regarding public procurement for the years 2010-2014. The results show that, among the contracting authorities at the different levels of decentralization, there were statistically significant differences which we can explain through the different levels of accountability, economies of scale, as well as the qualifications of the workers of the contracting authority.

scholarly journals Transaction Costs, Outsourcing, and the Public Procurement Review Process in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 233-250
Author(s):  
Markéta Šumpíková ◽  
Ina Ďurčeková
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Transaction Costs ◽  
Review Process ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Law Firm ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
The Public ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Impact

AbstractPublic procurement is a crucial activity undertaken by the public sector. However, public procurement entails a wide range of transaction costs. While many papers focus on the ex-ante transaction costs, it is equally important to evaluate the types of ex-post transaction costs. The disputes stemming from conflicts between procuring authorities and proposers often bring additional costs to both parties. One of the ways to ensure that the procuring authority wins the dispute is using the services of an external law firm to represent the procuring authority in the review process. The aim of the paper is to examine the extent of the use of external law services in the public-procurement review process by procuring authorities and proposers in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic. The focus is also on the impact the use of external law firms in the review process may have on the length of the review process and the outcome of the dispute. Our results suggest that while the use of the external law firm may lead to a higher success rate of the review process on the side of a procuring authority, the same does not apply to proposers. There were no conclusive findings regarding the impact of the outsourcing on the length of the review process.

scholarly journals Subjective equivalence scales using EU-SILC panel data for Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary

2017 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 585-604
Author(s):  
Leszek Morawski ◽  
Małgorzata Kalbarczyk-Stęclik ◽  
Rafał Miśta
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Marginal Cost ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Equivalence Scales ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Second Child ◽  
Minimum Income ◽  
Section Data ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

Equivalence scales are commonly employed in income analysis to compare the wealth of households of various compositions (e.g., 0-child, 1-child). The choice of weights for this type of analysis is not self-evident. In this paper, subjective equivalence scales for households in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary are estimated. We use longitudinal EU-SILC data for 2005–2012 following the approach of Goedhart et al. (1977) as employed by Bishop et al. (2014). The use of longitudinal data shows that previous results on the subjective minimum income that were based on the OLS estimates for cross-section data overestimated the impact from current income and underestimated the role of economies of scale. Subjective equivalence scales imply a decreasing marginal cost of children in the three countries, which makes them distinct from the OECD scale. The marginal cost of a first child is similar to the values assumed in the OECD scale, but the cost of a second child is much lower.

scholarly journals The Impact of the Choice of Evaluation Criteria and the Type of Tender on the Awarding Public Contracts (in the Case of Construction Contracts at the Local Level in the Czech Republic)

2015 ◽  
Vol 63 (6) ◽  
pp. 2057-2065
Author(s):  
František Ochrana ◽  
Kristýna Hrnčířová ◽  
Michal Plaček ◽  
Milan Půček
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Public Contracts ◽  
Individual Choices ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Empirical Analysis

Public procurement may be examined from different perspectives. Using the Czech Republic as an example, this study is devoted to examining the impact of decisions made by the contracting authority regarding a public tender on the tender process itself and on the outcomes of the tender. The contracting authority addresses a number of decision-making issues regarding public procurements. For example, it needs to decide between two types of criteria (choosing between a single-criterion evaluation or rather opting for several evaluation criteria). At the same time, the authority is free to choose among different types of award procedures while adhering to certain restrictions imposed by the Act on Public Contracts. Using a sample of 1,027 construction work contracts awarded in the Czech Republic, the study examines, in more detail, the impacts of individual choices made by the contracting authority (namely the type of evaluation criteria chosen and the type of procedure for awarding contracts) on the estimated and final price of public contracts. Recommendations on how to streamline the process of public procurement can be drawn from conclusions from the empirical analysis.

scholarly journals Reducing the Impact of the Global COVID-19 Pandemic on Business Entities in the Czech Republic from an Accounting and Tax Perspective

2021 ◽  
Vol 92 ◽  
pp. 01012
Author(s):  
Jana Hakalova ◽  
Sarka Kryskova ◽  
Yvetta Psenkova
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Financial Stability ◽  
Value Added ◽  
Economic Life ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Goods And Services ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
The Government ◽  
Business Entities ◽  
The Impact

Research background: The global pandemic declared by WHO on 11 March 2020 has had a widespread impact on the world economy, and the COVID-19 outbreak has severely affected economic life throughout the globalized world. Governments have taken various measures to support their economy and financial stability. The global restrictions on production and services, reduced demand for goods and services and this year’s cash-flow problems will certainly lead to a significant decline in their profits, especially for small and medium-sized companies. The COVID-19 pandemic has undoubtedly affected most business entities in the Czech Republic. Purpose of the article: The purpose of the paper is to describe, analyse and evaluate measures of the government of the Czech Republic, which aimed at reducing the impact of the pandemic on businesses in the Czech Republic. Methods: In the paper, classical types of scientific procedures were applied using theoretical and empirical methods which include description, analysis, synthesis, induction, deduction, comparison and evaluation and so on. Findings & Value added: The paper analyses the impacts of COVID-19 in the context of accounting measures from the perspective of Czech and international accounting regulations. The paper proposes a solution in the area of mandatory reactions of accounting entities to a completely unusual situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic which should be mandatory and disclosed in the notes to the financial statements. Furthermore, the paper evaluates a set of measures in the field of taxation, wages and insurance premiums intended for business entities and their employees.

scholarly journals Does the Lowest Bid Price Evaluation Criterion Make for a More Efficient Public Procurement Selection Criterion? (Case of the Czech Republic)

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
František Ochrana ◽  
Kristýna Hrnčířová
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Selection Criterion ◽  
Radical Change ◽  
Evaluation Criterion ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Service Contracts ◽  
Bid Price ◽  
Public Contracts ◽  
Public Contract

Abstract Through the institute of public procurement a considerable volume of financial resources is allocated. It is therefore in the interest of contracting entities to seek ways of how to achieve an efficient allocation of resources. Some public contract-awarding entities, along with some public-administration authorities in the Czech Republic, believe that the use of a single evaluation criterion (the lowest bid price) results in a more efficient tender for a public contract. It was found that contracting entities in the Czech Republic strongly prefer to use the lowest bid price criterion. Within the examined sample, 86.5 % of public procurements were evaluated this way. The analysis of the examined sample of public contracts proved that the choice of an evaluation criterion, even the preference of the lowest bid price criterion, does not have any obvious impact on the final cost of a public contract. The study concludes that it is inappropriate to prefer the criterion of the lowest bid price within the evaluation of public contracts that are characterised by their complexity (including public contracts for construction works and public service contracts). The findings of the Supreme Audit Office related to the inspection of public contracts indicate that when using the lowest bid price as an evaluation criterion, a public contract may indeed be tendered with the lowest bid price, but not necessarily the best offer in terms of supplied quality. It is therefore not appropriate to use the lowest bid price evaluation criterion to such an extent for the purpose of evaluating work and services. Any improvement to this situation requires a corresponding amendment to the Law on Public Contracts and mainly a radical change in the attitude of the Office for the Protection of Competition towards proposed changes, as indicated within the conclusions and recommendations proposed by this study.

scholarly journals Assessing Habitat Vulnerability and Loss of Naturalness: Applying the GLOBIO3 Model in the Czech Republic

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5355
Author(s):  
Vilém Pechanec ◽  
Ondřej Cudlín ◽  
Miloš Zapletal ◽  
Jan Purkyt ◽  
Lenka Štěrbová ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Species Abundance ◽  
Biodiversity Loss ◽  
Infrastructure Development ◽  
Natural Habitats ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
New Equation ◽  
The Impact

Global and regional biodiversity loss is caused by several drivers including urban development, land use intensification, overexploitation of natural resources, environmental pollution, and climate change. The main aim of our study was to adapt the GLOBIO3 model to the conditions of the Czech Republic (CR) to assess loss of naturalness and biodiversity vulnerability at the habitat level on a detailed scale across the entire CR. An additional aim was to assess the main drivers affecting the biodiversity of habitat types. The GLOBIO3 model was adapted to CZ-GLOBIO by adapting global to local scales and using habitat quality and naturalness data instead of species occurrence data. The total mean species abundance (MSA) index of habitat quality, calculated from the spatial overlay of the four MSA indicators by our new equation, reached the value 0.62. The total value of MSA for natural and near-natural habitats was found to be affected mainly by infrastructure development and fragmentation. Simultaneously, intensity of land use change and atmospheric nitrogen deposition contributed primarily to the low total value of MSA for distant natural habitats. The CZ-GLOBIO model can be an important tool in political decision making to reduce the impact of the main drivers on habitat biodiversity in the CR.

scholarly journals The Impact of Climate Change on the Sugar Content of Grapes and the Sustainability of their Production in the Czech Republic

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 222
Author(s):  
Miroslava Navrátilová ◽  
Markéta Beranová ◽  
Lucie Severová ◽  
Karel Šrédl ◽  
Roman Svoboda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Czech Republic ◽  
Sugar Content ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Vegetation Period ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Growing Region

The aim of the presented article is to evaluate the impact of climate change on the sugar content of grapes in the Czech Republic during the period 2000–2019 through selected indicators on the basis of available secondary sources. Attention is focused on the developments in both the main wine-growing regions of Moravia and Bohemia. In the field of viticulture and wine-growing, the sugar content of grapes, as a basic parameter for the classification of wines, plays an important role. In the Czech Republic, the average sugar content of grapes has had a constantly growing trend. This trend is evident both in the wine-growing region of Bohemia and in the wine-growing region of Moravia. The impact of climate change, especially the gradual increase of average temperatures in the growing season, cannot be overlooked. It greatly affects, among other things, the sugar content of grapes. Calculations according to the Huglin Index and the Winkler Index were used to determine the relationship between climate and sugar content. These indexes summarize the course of temperatures during the entire vegetation period into a single numerical value. The results show that both indexes describe the effect of air temperature on sugar content in both wine regions of the Czech Republic in a statistically significant way. The Huglin Index shows a higher correlation rate. The Winkler Index proved to be less suitable for both areas. Alternatively, the Winkler Index calculated for a shorter growing season was tested, which showed a higher degree of correlation with sugar content, approaching the significance of the Huglin Index.

scholarly journals Economies of Scale on the Municipal Level: Fact or Fiction in the Czech Republic?

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lenka Matějová ◽  
Juraj Nemec ◽  
Milan Křápek ◽  
Daniel Klimovský
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Elementary Education ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Local Administration ◽  
Government Performance ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Territorial Structure ◽  
Pros And Cons ◽  
Municipal Level

AbstractMany countries have carried out extensive amalgamation-related territorial reforms at the level of local self-government and created relatively large municipalities. The Czech Republic is one of the few remaining European countries with a fragmented territorial structure. There is a lot of discussion in the country about the need for amalgamation, but this discussion is mainly based on political arguments rather than on empirical evidence about the feasibility of amalgamation and its potential to improve local government performance. This paper analyses economies of scale on the local level as a factor that should be reflected in debates about the pros and cons of amalgamation in the Czech Republic. To add to the existing knowledge about the reality of economies of scale on the municipal level in the Czech Republic, we processed the municipal costs of three selected areas on a representative sample of municipalities in the South Moravian Region. The analysis showed that economies of scale can be identified for collecting local fees and for pre-school and elementary education, but not for local administration. Our results suggest that the existence of too small municipalities in the Czech Republic results in inefficiencies and should be addressed.

Transitional Justice and Changing Memories of the Past in Central Europe

2013 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-44
Author(s):  
Roman David
Keyword(s):  
Czech Republic ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
The Czech Republic ◽  
Divided Societies ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Impact

Memories of wrongdoings are often viewed as an obstacle to reconciliation in divided societies. Is it due to the past or the present politics of the past? To examine the dilemma of essentialism versus presentism, this article investigates the impact of transitional justice on memories of wrongdoing. It theorizes that using different transitional justice strategies to deal with the same wrongdoing shapes memories in different ways. The theory is tested via vignette-based surveys in the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, which adopted distinct lustration laws. The results show that wrongdoing is viewed through lustration laws, reflecting present power constellations, not history.

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