E-PROCUREMENT AS THE ICT INNOVATION IN THE PUBLIC SERVICES MANAGEMENT: CASE OF SLOVAKIA

Information and communications technology (ICT) has enabled the creation of tools to organize, transmit, store and act on information in digital form in new ways (Atkinson - McKay, 2007). Combined with the reforms of government and public administration in the spirit of New Public Management, many innovations are driven by ICT in the public sector. In this paper we focus on several ICT driven innovations from the perspective of e-procurement in the conditions in Slovakia. E-procurement carries out a number of stages of the procurement process, including search, sourcing, negotiation, ordering, receipt and post-purchase review. Thus it contributes to a more transparent and competitive environment in which government has to operate. We confront these theoretical presumptions in the analysis of selected cases of e-procurement use in Slovakia.