Budget-Variance Efficiency in Local Government Procurement: Evidence from Central Java Regencies and Municipalities, Indonesia, 2025

Abstract

Public procurement plays a central role in public financial management because it converts approved budget allocations into goods, services, works, and operational inputs for public administration. This study evaluates procurement budget efficiency in regency and municipality governments in Central Java Province, Indonesia, for fiscal year 2025 by comparing procurement planning values with procurement realization values. A descriptive quantitative design is employed using secondary data from the official open dataset issued by the National Public Procurement Agency of Indonesia (LKPP). The analysis covers 35 local governments, consisting of 29 regencies and 6 municipalities. Budget efficiency is treated as a budget-variance indicator and is measured through nominal efficiency and efficiency percentage. The results indicate that aggregate procurement planning reached Rp34.606 trillion, whereas aggregate realization reached Rp15.024 trillion, creating a positive variance of Rp19.582 trillion or 56.59 percent. At the local government level, the mean indicator was 54.07 percent and the distribution varied considerably across regions. Kota Pekalongan showed the highest indicator at 83.78 percent, while Kabupaten Temanggung showed the lowest at 11.84 percent. These results should not be read as a complete evaluation of procurement performance, since lower realization may reflect price efficiency but may also arise from package cancellation, reduced volume, planning overestimation, or delayed implementation. The study contributes to public sector accounting by illustrating how official open procurement data can support local budget performance analysis while stressing the need for metadata verification.