E-procurement adoption process: an arduous journey for an Australian city council

Unlike the private sector for which the adoption of e-procurement systems has widely been discussed, little is known about the motivations behind government agencies' introduction of e-procurement systems and the challenges they encounter in implementing them. This research addresses this gap through an exploratory case study involving a Melbourne-based city council. The findings indicate the reluctance of the council in fully committing to e-procurement system while being not entirely motivated by financial gains. A major hurdle is the difficulty to integrate e-procurement to the council's financial applications. The study has implications for public sector financial managers and IT practitioners.