Some policy issues surrounding the use of FinTech in public procurements

Abstract

FinTech – along with the blockchain, other distributed ledger, smart contract, and tokenization usually assumed to accompany it – could change the way governments procure goods and services. Yet, both the academic and practitioner literature omits discussion of any policy-level analysis of the interaction between procurement rules and FinTech innovations. Procurement authorities and procurement law can play a vital role in the development of FinTech. They can help build the FinTech platforms and ecosystems that help them engage in public procurement. They should not try to procure such FinTech outright. Any FinTech applications facilitating public procurement should thus encourage compliance with the principles the international community has developed over decades.