Innovation in public procurement: Activities and results in the case of robot Alice of the Office of the Comptroller General

Abstract

The objective of this work was to analyze activities and results of the innovation process in the public sector in the light of the ALICE robot case. The framework used to analyze innovation was the Integrated Model of Innovative Public Management (GESPUBLIN), proposed by Isidro (2018), considered as the best strategy to access the phenomenon as a whole, since it enabled the analysis of the innovation process from its creation to its results. GESPUBLIN has four dimensions: Environment, Capabilities, Activities and Results, and this study sought to analyze the dimensions, as well as simultaneously discuss its applicability and its level of efficiency. Data were collected through interviews, focus groups, documents and literature. Thus, it is considered field research, since the empirical investigation was conducted at the location where the innovative phenomena occurred. The data analysis of this research was based on the content analysis proposed by Bardin (2016). The results show, in general, that innovation occurred mainly to introduce a new product to solve problems in processes and services of the analyzed public organization. It is concluded that the GESPUBLIN model was essentially well adapted to the analysis of the Alice robot case, and its applicability should be encouraged in similar models, in order to make the innovation process in public administration clearer and more concise, optimizing the public sector in this very complex sphere.

Keywords

• innovation
• public sector
• public procurement
• preventive auditing
• artificial intelligence