Factors Influencing The Performance Of Public Procurement For Independent Public Offices And Commissions In Kenya

Abstract

Public procurement is a necessity that enhances public institutions to deliver goods and services to the public. Its performance therefore is always a matter of concern to stakeholders. However, procurement performance is always influenced by a number of factors that emerge from the organizations as well as from the external environments. The current study was about factors influencing the performance of public procurement for independent public offices and commissions in Kenya. The first objective was to determine the extent to which the implementation of ICT, staff competencies, legal and regulatory framework as well as ethical conduct in procurement process in the independent public offices and commissions in Kenya. The second objective was to investigate the influence of ICT staff competency, legal and regulatory framework and ethical conduct on procurement performance of public offices and commissions in Kenya. The study captured descriptive research design process. The study population involved 96 respondents from the twelve independent public offices and commissions in Kenya. A research questionnaire was utilized to assembling raw data, then analysis was conducted through descriptive statistics as well as inferential analysis. The study output on table 4.3 indicated that ICT and Ethical Conduct of procurement processes were implemented at a large extent in the respective independent public offices and commissions in Kenya with a mean (M = 3.86; SD = 0.837) and (M = 3.81; SD = 0.942) respectively. Other respondents indicated that staff competencies was implemented in their respective independent public offices and commissions at a moderate extent with a mean of (M = 3.38; SD = 1.006), while legal and regulatory framework was implemented at a small extent with a mean (M = 2.41; SD = 1.147). Furthermore the feedback on table 4.4 noted that R Squared was 0.625 indicating that there existed a variation of 63% of the variation on public procurement performance explained by the four predictor variables of this study; thus included ICT, Staff Competencies, Legal and Regulatory Framework as well as Ethical Conduct of Procurement Process. The study concluded that there existed a positive relationship between factors influencing the performance of public procurement and procurement performance for independent public offices and commissions in Kenya. The study concludes that ICT is implemented at a great extent while legal and regulatory framework was implemented at a small extent hence the need for its improvement in their respective study context. The study directed that the procurement officers, managers and assistants in the respective independent public offices and commissions in Kenya should consider to undergo more training on the legal and regulatory framework regarding procurement practices in Kenya especially the current Public PPADA 2015.The study limitation included reluctant of the respondents to participate in the study citing busy schedules at their work stations. Also the researcher did repeat visits to the independent public offices and commissions in Kenya to remind them to help fill the questionnaires thus causing further delays in the analysis process. The researcher suggests that future studies to done on private firms and other public institutions such as state parastatal, non-governmental Organizations.