Sustainable Procurement Practices and Performance of the County Government of Bomet

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to identify the sustainable procurement practices adopted by the County Government of Bomet, to find out the drivers of sustainable procurement practices by the County Government of Bomet, and to establish the relationship between sustainable procurement practices and performance of County Government of Bomet. The research was based on descriptive research design. The population of the study was employees of County Government of Bomet. The County has 236 employees in the head office. Stratified random sampling procedure was administered to pick sample of the study, which consisted of 47. The study population was stratified into strata based on the departments in the organization. The data collection instrument that was used in the study for primary sources was questionnaire. Data collection was done by the drop and pick method. Data was analyzed through descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings on the drivers of sustainable procurement practices indicated that most of the participants indicated to a large extent that that sustainable practices is influenced by advance suppliers in developing environmentally friendly goods The findings indicated that absence of internal expertise on Sustainability topics, contradictory objectives, lack of metrics (KPI) to measure and monitor progress, lack of metrics (KPI) to measure and monitor progress, lack of information on suppliers Corporate Social Responsibilities practices, Failure to have effective monitoring and evaluation, Resistance from suppliers (cost, lack of sustainability expertise, etc.), and absence of budget for internal or external support are the major challenges that affect the adoption of sustainable practices. Based on the findings the study concludes that the County Government of Bomet has adopted procurement practices to a moderate extent and that there is a relationship between the sustainable procurement practices and organization performance. The application of the practices of procurement in the organization is founded on proper planning. Through proper procurement planning, a firm can be sure of increasing its performance level in form of productivity, cost cutting, quality of goods and services delivered as well as deliveries being made on time.