Strategic Public Procurement and Professionalisation Initiatives in Estonia

Annex B. Self-assessment survey

This Annex presents the key takeaways and results of the self-assessment survey, which was prepared based on the 21 competences of the draft competency model and applied to 143 procurement officials from 37 contracting authorities in Estonia in 2024.

The survey aimed at feeding the assessment of the capability level of the public procurement workforce, one assessment angle of the current level of professionalisation, which was specified in the Step I Assessment of the OECD policy paper on the professionalisation.

Survey structure

The survey was prepared in the EC digital platform (EUSurvey) in accordance with the draft competency model. The survey aimed at helping each participant to identify the current capability level of their workforce and competences that need more capacity building, by:

• Assessing the current capability level by ranking each of 21 competences (23 including sub-competences inside C4 and C12) through:

  • Calculating the average score of all the participants (all the 143 participants)

  • Calculating the average score of all the participants (by contracting authority)

  • Calculating the average score of all the participants (by job profile self-declared by each participant)

• Collecting the feedback on capacity-building needs of the participants.

• Collect feedback on the draft competency model and professionalisation initiatives

• Collect information on the practice of strategic procurement

The survey consisted of four sections:

• Section I General questions: Information on the respondent such as the current position and experiences in public procurement;

• Section II Public procurement competences: Self-assessment of the current level for the 14 procurement specific competences;

• Section III Soft competences: Self-assessment of the current level for the 7 soft competences; and

• Section IV Feedback on capacity-building needs: (i) capacity-building needs (select 3 competences that need more capability-building activities in the opinion of the respondent), (ii) the draft competency model and (iii) professionalisation initiatives

• Selection V Practices on strategic public procurement: Collecting information on the perception of strategic procurement

This Annex focuses on the result of the questions in Section I to IV, because the result of the questions in Section V on perception of strategic procurement was already discussed in the previous Chapters on the current state of play of strategic procurement.

In Section II and III, the participants were requested to self-assess their proficiency levels of knowledge and skills for 21 competences (23 including sub-competences) from the following levels that were converted to points (0 to 4):

• Less than basic: 0 point

• Basic: 1 point

• Intermediary: 2 points

• Advanced: 3 points

• Expert: 4 points

A webinar to launch the survey was organised by the OECD on March 22, 2024 in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance, in order to explain the purpose and structure of the exercise to the participants. The survey was closed on April 25, 2024.

Participant profiles

This part shows the basic profiles of the 143 officials that participated in the self-assessment survey from 37 contracting authorities in Estonia. (see Table A B.1.)

Table A B.1. Participants of the survey

Contracting authority	Number of participants
AS Eesti Raudtee	7
AS Eesti Varude Keskus	1
AS Hoolekandeteenused	3
AS Tallinna Sadam	3
AS Tallinna Vesi	4
Eesti Energia AS	15
Eesti Maaülikool	2
Elektrilevi OÜ	4
Elering AS	5
Ettevõtluse ja Innovatsiooni SA	3
Harku Vallavalitsus	1
Majandus- ja Kommunikatsiooniministeerium	1
Mulgi Vallavalitsus	1
Rae Vallavalitsus	1
Rahandusministeerium ühisosakonna õigustalitus	3
Rahandusministeeriumi Infotehnoloogia Keskus	1
Rakvere Linnavalitsus	1
Regionaal- ja Põllumajandusministeerium	5
Registrite ja Infosüsteemide Keskus	2
Riigi Info- ja Kommunikatsioonitehnoloogia Keskus	2
Riigi Kaitseinvesteeringute Keskus	8
Riigi Kinnisvara AS	1
Riigi Tugiteenuste Keskus	23
RÜ Riigi Tugiteenuste Keskus	5
SA Põhja-Eesti Regionaalhaigla	10
SA Tallinna Lastehaigla	2
Siseministeerium	1
Siseministeeriumi Infotehnoloogia- ja Arenduskeskus	1
Tallinna Linnavaraamet	2
Tallinna Strateegiakeskus	5
Tallinna Ülikool	5
Tartu Vallavalitsus	5
Tartu Ülikool	4
Tervise ja Heaolu Infosüsteemide Keskus	2
Tervisekassa	2
Transpordiamet	1
Viljandi Linnavalitsus	1
TOTAL	143

Source: Self-assessment survey result for 143 public procurement officials at 37 contracting authorities in Estonia (May 2024)

It is worth noting that these 37 contracting authorities represented 38.17 % of the total number of public procurement procedures and 67.38 % of the total estimated procurement volume in Estonia in 2023.

The followings are the snapshots of the 143 participants:

• 88% (126 out of 143 officials) work full-time on public procurement.

• Average experiences in the current position are 59 months (4.9 years)

• Average experiences in public procurement are 114 months (9.5 years)

• Involvement in each procurement cycle: Pre-tender phase (90%), tender phase (97%), Post-tender (contract management) phase (59%)

Self-assessment result of 21 competences

The OECD shared with the Ministry of Finance the key findings from the analysis of the aggregated self-assessment results of the 143 participants on May 24, 2024. Then, it was shared with the survey participants during the conference held in Tallin on June 14, 2024. The survey results for each of the 11 contracting authorities that had 5 or more participants were sent to each institution individually in October 2024, in order to maintain the confidentiality of their individual results. This Annex only shows the key findings of the aggregated result of the 143 participants, which are still useful to meet the objective of identifying the competences that need more capacity building on a country-wide level.

The total average point of the 23 competences of all the 143 participants was 2.06. The total average point of procurement-specific competences (No. 1-14) amounted to 2.27, while the one for the soft competences (No. 15-21) was 2.13. By job profile, the department / division head (manager), a job profile which might require more experiences in public procurement, recorded the highest average scores for all competence clusters (All the 23 competences: 2.64, procurement-specific competences: 2.93 and soft competences: 2.73). (see Figure A B.1.)

Figure A B.1. Average point by competence cluster and job profile

Source: Self-assessment survey result for 143 public procurement officials at 37 contracting authorities in Estonia (May 2024)

Figure A B.2. shows that the capability level increases proportionally with more professional experiences in public procurement except the cases observed among the category of 3-4 years (2.22 point), 4-5 years (2.19 point) and 5-10 years (2.03 points).

Figure A B.2. Total average score by experience in public procurement

Source: Self-assessment survey result for 143 public procurement officials at 37 contracting authorities in Estonia (May 2024)

Figure A. B.3. shows the average points of all the 143 participants by competence in ascending order. The self-assessment result identified C5 (Innovation Procurement) as the weakest competence of the 143 participants with the lowest average point of 1.02, followed by C4-2 (Socially responsible public procurement), C6 (Risk management), C4-1 (Green public procurement), C10 (Market analysis & engagement).

Figure A B.3. Average points of all the 143 participants by competence

Note: C1 Planning, C2 Legislation, C3 e-Procurement and other digital tools, C4-1 Sustainable public procurement - Green public procurement, C4-2 Sustainable public procurement - Socially responsible public procurement, C5 Innovation procurement, C6 Risk management, C7 Conflict resolution, C8 Category specific, C9 Needs assessment, C10 Market analysis & engagement, C11 Procurement strategy, C12-1 Tender document - Technical specifications, C12-2 Tender document - Evaluation criteria and other elements, C13 Tender evaluation, C14 Contract management, C15 Adaptability and modernization, C16 Analytical and critical thinking, C17 Negotiations & Communication, C18 Organisational awareness & Compliance, C19 Collaboration & Stakeholder relationship management, C20 Team management and leadership, C21 Project management

Source: Self-assessment survey result for 143 public procurement officials at 37 contracting authorities in Estonia (May 2024)

In addition to the self-assessment exercise, all the participants were requested to select three competences of his or her top three choices that require more methodological assistance (such as training, guidelines, manuals etc). Figure A B.4. shows competences selected most as the 1st priority competence that requires more methodological assistance, in descending order.

Figure A B.4. Training needs (first priority of all the participants)

Note: % of the participants that selected each competence as the first priority competence that requires more methodological assistance.

For example, 29 out of 143 participants (20%) selected C5 (Innovation procurement) as the first priority competence that requires more methodological assistance.

Source: Self-assessment survey result for 143 public procurement officials at 37 contracting authorities in Estonia (May 2024)

The result on training needs is aligned with the self-assessment result. C5 (Innovation procurement) is selected most as the first priority competence that requires more methodological assistance, followed by C2 (Legislation), C4-1 (Green public procurement), C4-2 (Socially responsible public procurement). However, it should be noted that C2 (Legislation) gained stronger training needs (2^nd followed by innovation procurement) compared with the self-assessment result (20^th) with 2.52 average points. However, the discussion with some survey participants during the conference held in Tallin on14 June 2024 showed that this was attributable to the need for training on the regular update and amendments of legislation.

Figure A B.5. shows competences identified most as the ones that require more methodological assistance, taking into account the 1^st to 3^rd choices.

Figure A B.5. Training needs (1st – 3rd priorities of all the 143 participants)

Note: Each participant was requested to select 1^st to 3^rd competence that requires more methodological assistance. Then, the result was summed up after the conversion in accordance with the following scoring rule: 1st priority = 3 points, 2nd priority = 2 points, 3rd priority = 1 point. Finally, the total score of each competence was divided by the potential maximum score (in this case, 429 points: 3 points X 143 participants). For example, the converted score of C5 was 129 points, which were divided by 429 points to obtain 30.1%.

Source: Self-assessment survey result for 143 public procurement officials at 37 contracting authorities in Estonia (May 2024)

The overall result was similar to the one of the 1^st priority. C5 (Innovation procurement) is selected most as the 1^st-3^rd priority competence that requires more methodological assistance, followed by C2 (Legislation), C4-2 (Socially responsible public procurement), C4-1 (Green public procurement), C10 (Market analysis & engagement).

These results of the training needs survey imply that participants need more training and skills in using public procurement as a strategic tool to pursue different policy objectives such as innovation, social dimension, and environment.

Table A B.2. lists the five competences based on the self-assessment and the training needs.

Table A B.2. Summary of self-assessment survey result for all the 143 participants

Ranking	All the participants	1st priority	1st-3rd weighted priorities
1	C5 Innovation procurement (1.02 point)	C5 Innovation procurement (20%)	C5 Innovation procurement (30%)
2	C4-2 SRPP (1.31 point)	C2 Legislation (17%)	C2 Legislation (25%)
3	C6 Risk management (1.68 point)	C4-1 GPP (14%)	C4-2 SRPP (24%)
4	C4-1 GPP (1.76 point)	C4-2 SRPP (10%)	C4-1 GPP (23%)
5	C10 Market analysis & engagement (1.87 point)	C11 Procurement strategy (10%)	C10 Market analysis & engagement (11%)

Source: Self-assessment survey result for 143 public procurement officials at 37 contracting authorities in Estonia (May 2024)