ART - Symposium on Exploring the Frontiers in Public Procurement: Moving Past Tradition JoPP 2012

The document is an introduction to a symposium on exploring the frontiers in public procurement. It discusses the collaboration between the International Public Procurement Conference (IPPC) and the Journal of Public Procurement (JoPP) to select and publish the best papers from the conference in the journal. The introduction also highlights the importance of public procurement in achieving normative social outcomes and the recent focus on public procurement as a critical aspect of governance. It mentions the efforts to establish guidance procurement principles and the professionalization of public procurement. The document further emphasizes that public procurement is now managed differently, as much of what used to be directly managed by the government is now handled through various networks involving markets, private actors, and civil society organizations. This evolving role of the public sector in a networked environment is crucial to understanding the complexities and challenges of modern governance. Overall, the introduction sets the stage for the symposium and highlights the importance of public procurement in the changing landscape of governance.