Until the late 1970s, the Finnish Roadand Waterways Administration (RWA), under Finland'sMinistry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC),operated as a highly centralized, monopolistic agency. Thecountry's thirteen road management districts had littleor no decision-making authority. Outsourcing constructionworks was limited, contracting maintenance services wasrare, and RWA often implemented its road constructionprojects using in-house labor and rented machinery andvehicles. Following the oil crisis of 1974, public resourceswere constrained and road expenditure was targeted atmaintenance rather than at new construction. Simultaneously,RWA's focus shifted to construction management (ratherthan actual execution of works) and to maintenanceactivities. Outsourcing of planning, design, andconstruction services became more prevalent. New, moreuser-friendly procurement procedures were introduced,facilitating the use of private small contractors. Thistrend continued through the 1980s, when individual roaddistricts assumed the practice of slicing up the procurementof works into sufficiently small contracts to allow smallregional-based contractors to bid for them.
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