Abstract:
Procurement process is an important dimension of project management component especially during pre-construction stages of any project. Globally, the economic worth of construction industry's contribution to the growth of a nation can never be overlooked. Failure to effectively manage procurement processes can lead to problems for the entire project and construction team. County governments in Kenya have been accused in the past for flouting procurement rules and processes especially in contract procurement thereby leading to massive losses of public funds. Effective procurement process is one which is transparent and is corruption free. The study sought to investigate effectiveness of procurement process in public projects in Kenya with a special focus on County government projects in Kenya. The objectives of the study were to; describe factors affecting construction contract procurement processes in Counties, establish the relationship between construction contract procurement process and its explanatory variables and develop a model for predicting the effectiveness of procurement processes of public projects by Counties. The study adopted a survey research design where 10 Counties were selected using stratified random sampling technique. The target population consisted of all projects that had been undertaken by County governments in Kenya in the last three years. Random sampling was used to select five projects from each of the selected Counties and respondents consisted of County’s procurement departments and contractors who have undertaken specific selected County projects. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data and results presented inform of tables. The study identified three key factors that affect contract procurement processes at Counties; Government policies, Resources dedicated for procurement and Procurement planning. Correlation analysis results showed a positive and significant relationship between the dependent variable and all predictor variables, which included government policies, procurement resources and procurement planning. The model had R2 of 0.603 indicating that the factors considered for analysis could explain 60.3% of the unit change on the effectiveness of procurement process at the Counties. The study recommends that County governments should ensure strict adherence to PPOA guidelines to boost procurement processes for contractors.
