This paper analyzes three case studies of e-service procurement. The comparative analysis focuses on contract conditions, design scope, steer-group, process and results. The cases are set up differently, but the design scope was similar and focused on user centered design and business requirements. The cases departed more from a business perspective of the organizational objectives with the e-service rather than orthodox usability and user interface design perspective. The cases also differ regarding steer-group organization and work process. The first case study had only one person serving both as project leader and steer-group, while the other cases had a group of persons representing a large part of the organization, as well as usability professionals that defined the systems requirements. As for the process the former project worked in a more ad hoc oriented way, taking care of problems as they appeared, while the latter worked with a structured user centered design methodology with a strong focus on tracing the business goals. The results of the projects were two heavily delayed projects and one that was completed on time. The results suggest that it is important to define requirements concretely by making prototypes as part of the systems acquisition, as well as that the procurement steer groupis active and engaged throughout the project. A main conclusion is that industrial procurement projects should learn from other design disciplines such as architecture, industrial design and movie production, in making sketches, blueprints and pre-production as deliverables from the systems acquisition, in order to make the systems development more focused, productive and effective.