A Comparative Evaluation of the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Internal and Outsourced Public Project Management in Kenya: the Case of the Urban Development Department Projects

Abstract

The aim of this study was to do a comparative evaluation of the efficiency of the internally managed and outsourced public project management in Kenya. Kenya is anticipated to be predominantly urban by 2030. This projected urbanization of the country should be predicated on an accurately delivered infrastructural development. While the country is struggling with abandoned projects most of which are solely initiated and internally managed by the government, a number of her peers (at independence) have managed to get provision of public services right through outsourced management and Public Private Partnerships thereby advancing to higher levels of economic development. Because of this, the accomplishment of the goals serves as a gauge of the success of such projects. Economic and social facilities are the categories under which the public infrastructure projects fall. There is a widespread consensus that the state must take a crucial role in providing these services for a number of good reasons. The facilities and amenities are fundamental to the framework of society, which includes institutions like schools, hospitals, libraries, and prisons, as well as the support of daily economic activities, as in the case of public infrastructure like roads, rail, water provision, wastewater management, energy, agriculture, etc. The research project used qualitative approaches to achieve its goals. The necessity to utilize this technique was influenced by the nature of data. The findings showed similar trends in efficiency and effectiveness for both internally managed infrastructural projects and outsourced projects. However, these variations were quantitatively higher for the internally managed projects. Internally managed infrastructural projects took a longer duration against schedule to completion compared to those whose management was outsourced. Similarly, internally managed projects experienced higher cost overruns. Poor definition of scope and goals for the project, lack of or inadequate planning, lack of well-defined deliverables, poor change management and poor project communication were cited as the main reasons for project time and cost overruns. The study recommended that creating awareness on project definition and goals, planning to define the project deliverables, effective change management and communication would improve on the effectiveness and efficiency for projects in Kenya.