CONTROLLING RISKS IN GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENT DEMAND MANAGEMENT: EVIDENCE FROM CHINESE UNIVERSITIES

Abstract

Public procurement reforms increasingly seek to move risk control from ex post correction to the front end of the procurement cycle. This article examines that shift in the institutional setting of Chinese public universities, where procurement projects combine public-budget accountability, technical diversity, teaching and research urgency, and frequent external supervision. Drawing on a survey of 50 demand-management participants and semi-structured interviews and institutional documents from university procurement practice, the study evaluates the implementation of China's 2021 Measures for the Management of Government Procurement Demand and develops a grounded-theory model of demand-review risk control. The findings show that the measures have improved procurement satisfaction; however, the improvement remains limited due to several unresolved challenges, including a narrow understanding of procurement objectives, overlapping responsibilities between drafting and review processes, insufficient professional support, inadequate risk-oriented review mechanisms, incomplete quality feedback systems, and the need for further strengthening of internal control environments. The article proposes a four-part optimization mechanism: reconstructing the demand-review body, adopting risk-tiered review procedures, building a review-quality feedback loop, and strengthening an enabling internal-control climate. Although the evidence is drawn from China, the argument speaks to a broader international issue: how public organizations can design front-end procurement controls that are independent, proportionate, professionally informed, and capable of organizational learning.