Challenges of procurement strategy implementation among road agencies in Kenya
Abstract
Procurement has developed over the years and is now considered a strategic function
within many organizations. In Kenya specifically, public procurement has undergone
major transformation and is now governed using a legal framework. Agencies in the
roads industry being public entities are subjected to public procurement. Budgetary
allocations in the roads industry in Kenya takes a huge portion of the overall budget
hence it is prudent that the funds are utilized well in order to achieve economic sense.
Procurement in the roads industry is thus strategic based on the resources allocated
and implementation of procurement strategy is of concern to all stakeholders. The
resource based view is an economic tool used to determine the strategic resources
available to the firm. It explains the ability of the firm to deliver sustainable
competitive advantage when resources are managed well. The objective of the study
was to establish challenges faced by the road agencies in Kenya during
implementation of their procurement strategies and ways of mitigating these
challenges. The study was a cross sectional survey. Primary data was collected using
questionnaires administered to the management of the four road agencies. The study
concluded that procurement strategy implementation in the road agencies is
challenging. Poor leadership, lack of adequate resources frequent management
changes and lack of strategy communication contributed to the challenges. External
influence by business contractors and politicians was the greatest challenge and
further the unclear link between overall strategy and procurement planning
contributed to the challenges. The study concluded that there is need for procurement
strategies to keep up with the turbulent environment and better use of the resources
through training and awareness of the legal framework, robust policies and procedures
and involvement of all staff in outlining the procurement strategies. The road agencies
need to ensure robust operational systems are put in place, they need to review
organizational systems, procedures and policies. The human resource manuals will
need to have a clear focus on ensuring deployment of competent individuals in
strategy monitoring, evaluation and control. There is need for development of
standard operating procedures in the road agencies to mitigate external influence. The
road agencies need to enhance enrolment in professional certification by their staff to
ensure professionalism. Individual departments further need to develop their own
procurement plans to enhance ownership of procurement strategy. From the findings,
incorporating procurement planning into the overall corporate strategic planning,
better politicians/stakeholders expectation management, setting clear procurement
strategies, supportive agency leadership and clear documented policies and procedure
were instituted strategies helping cope with the challenges to procurement strategy
implementation in these road agencies to a large extent. These assertions build onto
the theory of resource based view or theory of a firm that explains the ability of the
firm to deliver sustainable competitive advantage is dependent on how internal
resources are managed in such a way that competitors cannot imitate the final product.
Publisher
University of Nairobi