Contract Management on Procurement Performance in Public Universities in Kenya

Abstract

The upsurge of public universities in Kenya has culminated in extra budget allocation to these institutions by the national treasury over the last decade. Close to 60-70% of the budget is used in procurement related activities. This phenomenon has led the public universities to instill procurement contract management action plans to enhance procurement performance. Despite the introduction of regulatory bodies, there are numerous lawsuits of defaulted contracts, annulled contracts and incomplete contracts. These problems end in big financial losses and time overruns. It is against this backdrop that this research sought to assess the influence of contract management on procurement performance in public universities in Kenya. The study specifically focused on the influence of: buyer-supplier collaboration, procurement risk management, transparency and accountability, contract records management as well as the moderating influence of legal compliance on the relationship between contract management and procurement performance in public universities in Kenya. The study employed descriptive research design and prior to data collection, pilot test was undertaken at 4 public constituent university colleges. A census method was adopted in this study, whereby a target population of all the 31 public universities (Unit of Analysis) was involved in the study. One hundred and twenty-four (124) university officials (Unit of Observation) were randomly sampled. Primary data was collected by use of questionnaires whereby, a drop and pick method was used in the administration of the questionnaires. Key informant interviews were also conducted to deduce qualitative data. Secondary data was derived from the auditor general’s and PPRA reports. Descriptive statistics measures of central tendency were used and statistical output was generated using SPSS version 22. Inferential statistics was also used to infer correlation analysis as well as multiple linear regression and this depicted the relationship between independent and dependent variables. The study data was tested for adherence to the assumptions of multiple linear regression analysis and it was found to be free from linearity, normality autocorrelation, heteroscedasticity and multicollinearity. The findings of the study revealed that, buyer supplier collaboration, procurement risk management, transparency and accountability and contract records management influence procurement performance in public universities in Kenya. The study further established that legal compliance had significant moderating influence on the relationship between contract management and procurement performance in public universities in Kenya. Inferential statistics results exhibited strong R square while the results of ANOVA for the regression model showed an F statistic that was within the predictable range. All the predictor variables had significant joint influence thus the model fitted in the multiple regression was fit. The study concluded that buyer supplier collaboration strongly influences procurement performance while procurement risk management, contract records management and legal compliance have modest influence on procurement performance. Further, the study concluded that transparency and accountability slightly influences procurement performance. The study recommends that public universities should maintain the existing synergy based initiatives with suppliers, risk management strategies, professional probity policies automated contract records management procedures and ensure high degree of adherence of the procurement law as anchored in PPADA, 2015.