IT Outsourcing Vendor Selection for Digital Transformation Projects in Public Sector using Interval-Valued Spherical Fuzzy AHP

Abstract

Digital transformation projects have started to be implemented intensively in private sector companies, government institutions, and the public sector. In addition to its benefits, such as increased efficiency and cost reduction, digital transformation also creates high citizen satisfaction and public value for public institutions. However, as in the private sector, the public sector's biggest problem is achieving success in digital transformation projects, which is the biggest problem facing political leaders and public administrators. Public administrators must realize a profound learning revolution and change management in the internal organizational culture. They also need to choose the right outsourcing companies and succeed in implementing IT projects. Consequently, determining the selection criteria of the outsourcing companies that will take part in digital transformation projects in the public sector and the selection methodology to be applied is of great importance. It may be necessary to make a more complex and holistic evaluation when dealing with digital transformation projects in the public sector due to public institutions' unique norms, internal political balance, and culture. For this reason, a perspective and methodology covering all organizational stakeholders should be applied in decision-making processes. This study presents a Spherical Fuzzy AHP-based selection methodology framework for IT outsourcing vendor evaluation processes to enable public sector decision-makers to make better decisions.