Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on a research thesis that investigates the role of procurement practices in effective implementation of infrastructure projects in a developing country, i.e. Pakistan. The research investigated and explored the issues and barriers to effective implementation of different procurement methods, the environment and its suitability for implementing different forms of procurement in context of public sector in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach – The research was carried out in two stages in the first stage archival analysis was conducted of government documents, reports including reports by international organisations, policy documents and literature. During the second stage case studies were selected based on archival analysis. The unit of analysis is the basis for the case and for this study, it was the procurement of infrastructure projects in public sector in Pakistan and that was the boundary of the research. Eight project case studies were selected from six public sector organizations (organizational case studies). A total of 24 respondents participated from these six organisations. Findings – The research has identified the different procurement choices and reasons for a particular choice, the issues in procurement choice and the issues in procurement implementation in the public sector organisations in Pakistan. It has also described the impact of procurement practice on successful project outcomes. As a result multiple issues have been identified which affects the choice of procurement such as the need for efficiency and finances, client objectives, timely policy decisions, clarity of clients needs, delays in bidding and response, delays in approvals, proposal and bid evaluation procedures, need for relaxation of rules and project characteristics. The major barriers and constraints to implementation of procurement have been reported to be regulatory and legal, risks and contract management, principles of procurement, political, culture, inter and intra organisational issues, conditions of the country, lack of understanding, land acquisition, project revenue and finance issues. Procurement had a direct impact on successful outcomes of the project, the procurement systems in these organisations had a direct relationship and impact on performance and success of the project. Originality/value – As a result of this analysis a vivid big picture of road map of the ongoing processes and practice of procurement in public sector in Pakistan has been created which vividly portrays the issues and barriers of the procurement practice in Pakistan.
