Abstract:
Public procurement plays a significant role in the generation of country’s wealth since it accounts for approximately 16% of most countries’ GDPs. This is one of the key considerations that led the Kenya government to grant disadvantaged firms –such as youth, women and people with disabilities- 30% of the allocation of all public procurement in order to enable them create jobs as unemployment among this firm has been a perennial challenge to the government and other stakeholders. Consequently, the government of Kenya through policies and initiatives has actively sought to increase youth inclusion into mainstream economic activities. One such initiative is the Youth Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (YAGPO) which sought to further improve youth inclusivity in public procurement. However, this initiative has not achieved the expected results as the tender uptakes among the youth are still very low. Therefore, the present study sought to examine the determinants of youth participation in public procurement projects in Kericho County, Kenya. Specifically, it sought to determine how technical readiness, business profile and tender evaluation process affects the participation of youth enterprises in public procurement projects in Kericho County. The study was guided by the Institutional Theory, Mc Mullen – Shepherd Model and the Public Interest Theory of Regulation. Survey research design was adopted for the study targeting the procurement personnel in Kericho County. A sample size of 79 respondents obtained using stratified random sampling was used. Self-administered questionnaires were used as data collecting instruments. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics (mainly frequencies, percentages and Chi-squares) and inferential statistics, mainly Pearson product moment correlation and multiple linear regression analysis. The findings revealed that technical readiness of youth-owned companies’ in the area was still unsatisfactory and this adversely affected their participation of in public procurement projects in the area. It was also revealed that the business profiles of the youth-owned companies were important in determining their public procurement contract awards. Finally, was revealed that the tender evaluation process was the most important determinant affecting the participation of youth-owned companies’ in public procurement projects in the County. The study, therefore, recommends that the youth owned companies invest their resources studying and participating in public procurement in order to gain insight and experience into their workings. It is also recommended that the youth-owned companies form consortiums when bidding so as to increase their chances of being awarded tenders. Lastly, the County governments need to encourage youth-owned companies to participate in the tender opening process and be given access to the results of the bidding process so as to enable them understand the prequalification criteria for the public tenders.
