Implementation of the public procurement and disposal act, (2005) -Kenya and organizational performance

Abstract

Public Procurement is one of the major objectives of any government striving to deliver goods and services to its people. The government is a major purchaser of goods and services that entails the application of colossal amounts of money running into billions of shillings and if the procurement process is not transparent and efficient, it results in the loss of taxpayers’ money which leads to poverty, insecurity, poor infrastructure, inadequate health services among others. Unfortunately the foregoing scenario has characterized public procurement in Kenya over the years. In an attempt to address these weaknesses, the Kenyan Government enacted the Public Procurement & Disposal Act (PPDA, 2005). Since the Act was put in place, little is available to explain the effect the implementation has had in improving the performance of public entities in delivery of services to Kenyans. The study therefore sought to determine the effect of the PPDA, (2005) implementation on performance of Kenyan state corporations. Explanatory survey design was adopted with a target population of 187 state corporations as per the list of the Taskforce on Parastatal Reforms (2013). The sample size was 125 state corporations and the study managed to get respondents from 112 corporations drawn from the five functional categories. Both primary and secondary data were used for analysis in the study. Primary data was obtained from the information in the questionnaires distributed to procurement practitioners and interview guides from the accounting officers whereas the secondary data was retrieved from existing reports of the PPOA website. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and multiple regressions. The findings of the study indicated a significant effect of the PPDA, (2005) implementation on performance of state corporations. Enforcement moderated the relationship between the PPDA, (2005) implementation and organizational performance. The study's limitation was the population as it only targeted procurement practitioners and Accounting officers in state corporations. The research thus recommends future studies to widen data coverage by involving mainstream government departments, county governments and service providers. Findings also indicated that enforcement of implementation of the rules increased levels of compliance; however, results also indicated that the compliance audits conducted by the oversight authority were very low. The implication is that policy makers should focus more on enforcement as it is an incentive for state corporations to increase implementation and compliance thus improving their performance. Study also revealed that e-procurement system had not been significantly embraced yet it highly contributed to transparency of the procurement process and increased efficiency. Policy makers in government should lay more emphasize in encouraging state corporations to invest in the e-procurement solution.