<![CDATA[Background: Performance-based specifications in e-purchasing mini-competitions can broaden technical evaluation discretion, while the studied 2025 workflow did not provide a dedicated, structured administrative objection channel for unsuccessful business actors. Objective: This study examines the absence of a formal administrative objection mechanism in Indonesia’s e-procurement mini-competition scheme and its implications for administrative justice in digital public procurement. Although electronic catalogs aim to improve efficiency and transparency, practices within the Ministry of Law in 2025 revealed procedural gaps, particularly in procurements involving performance-based specifications. Methods: This study employs a socio-legal empirical approach using grounded theory analysis, through semi-structured interviews with three Commitment-Making Officials (PPKs) and two business entities that filed objections, together with observation of administrative practices and review of official mini-competition documents from August to November 2025. Results: The findings indicate that performance-based specifications expand the CMOs’ technical discretion. At the same time, the lack of formal objection channels encourages unsuccessful participants to submit informal objections via the system’s messaging feature. This practice reflects an unmet need for structured administrative safeguards within the digital procurement framework. Conceptually, this study introduces the “missing objection mechanism” to describe the structural imbalance between technological efficiency and procedural safeguards. In practice, the study’s findings recommend strengthening administrative objection mechanisms in mini-competitions with performance-based specifications. Conclusion: Within the Ministry of Law mini-competitions examined, procedural legitimacy was strengthened when system traceability was accompanied by a clear opportunity for affected business actors to seek administrative correction; this case-specific finding requires validation in other procurement settings.]]>
