Effects of the Public Procurement Oversight Authority Standard Tender Document on Procurement of Public Building Works in Kenya : A Case of Ministry of Public Works Managed Projects

Abstract

Procurement of public construction projects among clients and other stakeholders continues to be a matter of concern all over the world. Over the years, the government has introduced and revised conditions of contract used in procuring projects in order to improve public projects procurement and lower building costs. The introduction of Public Procurement &Disposal (PP&D) Act, 2005 and regulations of 2006 which included the standard tender document (STD) for procurement of building and civil engineering works was one such measure. This study sought to find out the factors that impact the procurement of public projects and evaluate their relationship with conditions of tender application. The study was carried out on projects managed by the ministry of Public Works in the last five years and used content analysis which revealed nine underlying factors in the project procurement namely: delay in decision making; honoring payments; contractor performance; delays in preparation of certificates; clients' interference; design changes; post election violence; disputes and importation of materials. Delay in decision making by those concerned and honoring of payments was ranked highest while importation of materials was of least significance. The study concluded that the identified factors arose as a result of the tender documents not adequately addressing issues affecting procurement of public projects and recommends that the standard tender document be revised to reflect the nature of the projects/works to be procured.