E-procurement vs. online procurement: a means to increase transparency in a Saudi Government organisation: the case of the Jeddah Municipality

Literature states that governments around the world are currently adopting e-procurement as a means to improve transparency, efficiency, and timeliness. This paper argues that existing public e-procurement systems should be labelled 'online procurement', as opposed to 'e-procurement', as public e-procurement, falling within the context of e-government, should enable e-democracy and government transformation through citizen participation; while existing systems do not do so. In Saudi Arabia, the Jeddah Municipality (JM) is one of the very few that use e-procurement in the Kingdom. Its e-procurement system has been used as a model for other Saudi Government agencies by policy makers. The system was launched with the goal of enabling the municipality to conduct all procurement services electronically, while empowering citizens to monitor and govern the process. This paper presents the JM e-procurement system, its implementation stages, its current status and its future plans.