Procurement Contracting Practices and Service Delivery of Government Owned Entities in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure in Kenya

Abstract

The use of different procurement contracting practices can negatively or positively influence service delivery in government owned entities. In the recent past procurement contracting practices have been facing various challenges, which include increase in cost, political interference, lack of stakeholders involvement, compliance with best practices as well as professionalism of procurement workforce. The objectives of this study were to establish the procurement contracting practices used by government owned entities in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure in Kenya and to determine the relationship between procurement contracting practices and service delivery of government owned entities in the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure in Kenya. This study used a descriptive research design. The target population of this study was all the 351 staff working in the procurement departments in government owned entities under the ministry of transport and infrastructure. Stratified random sampling was used to select 50% of the target population in this study. The study used primary data, which was collected by use of semi structured questionnaires. The questionnaires in this study will generate both qualitative and quantitative data. Qualitative data was analzed by use of thematic content analysis presented in a prose form. Quantitative data was analysed by use of descriptive and inferential statistics through the help of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21. Descriptive statistics included percentages, frequencies, measures of central tendencies (mean) and measures of dispersion (standard deviation). Data was then presented in graphs and tables. Further, a correlation analysis and multivariate regression analysis was used to establish the relationship between the dependent and the independent variables. The study established that government owned entities were using competitive procurement contracting practices, relational procurement contracting practices, non-competitive procurement contracting practices and negotiated procurement contracting practices. The study also found that all the four procurement contracting practices were significantly influencing service delivery in government owned entities. However, competitive contracting practices had the most significant influence on service delivery in government owned entities most, followed by relational procurement contracting practices, non-competitive contracting practices and negotiated procurement contracting practices. Although competitive contracting practices, relational procurement contracting practices and negotiated procurement contracting practices had a positive influence on service delivery, non-competitive contracting practices had a negative influence. The study recommends that the government of Kenya should formulate more policies to emphasize on the use of competitive procurement contracting practices as they will help to reduce corruption, ensure quality and low cost as well as improve service delivery. The study also recommends that where unique products and services are required a noncompetitive procurement contracting practice can be used. This will help in saving time and reduce the cost of tendering. The study further recommends that the government of Kenya should formulate policies to discourage the use of negotiated procurement contracting as this will lead to collusion and corruption, which in turn leads to low quality and poor service delivery to the public.