Competitive Public Procurement during COVID-19: The Unique Political and Policy Experience of the United States

Abstract

COVID-19 appeared during one of the most turbulent political environments in U.S. history. This research documents how political polarization during a presidential election year coincided with an incoherent national policy and procurement response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and empirically examines the competitive nature of pandemic-related public procurement contracts across the 50 states based on partisan control of state governments.

Keywords

• disaster spending
• partisan politics
• public procurement
• full and open competition