Determinants Of Implementation Of Public Procurement Act On Commercial State Corporations In Kenya

Abstract

Public procurement makes up a large share of total expenditure in the public sector. However, various factors, including the adoption of e-procurement through ICT infrastructure and procurement personnel proficiency, influence the application of the public procurement Act in commercial state organizations. In light of this, the purpose of this study was to determine the factors that influence the public procurement act's execution and the performance of Kenya's commercial state enterprises. The study specifically focused on procurement staff proficiency, national procurement regulatory framework, information and communication technology infrastructure and top management support and their influence on implementation of procurement act in the commercial state corporations in Kenya. The study was anchored on Knowledge-Based Theory, Institutional Theory, System Theory and Agency theory. A descriptive research design was used to achieve the study objectives. The target population of the study comprised of 33 commercial state corporations in Kenya and the respondents included the finance managers and the procurement managers which was equivalent to 66. A census was conducted on all the 66 respondents. Data was gathered with aid of the questionnaire. The design of questionnaires was made to comprise of close ended and open-ended questions. The data was entered into SPSS software for descriptive and inferential statistics analysis. Descriptive findings entailed frequencies, percentages, means and standard deviations while inferential results were correlation and regression results. The study findings were presented in form of tables, charts and figure. The study found out that the procurement staff had adequate have high level of technical expertise and understanding of the national procurement legislation that governs the body which promoted efficiency during the procurement processes, the organization identified and upheld the relevant national-level procurement regulation so as to ensure the success of the whole procurement of process and the public procurement legislations promoted regulation of procurement processes for guidance and accountability. Staffs were able to obtain public procurement legislation content via ICT, and ICT infrastructure was up to date for various procurement procedures; top management encouraged employees to be honest about the procurement process, and openness was promoted. The study concludes that staff proficiency significantly affected organizational performance, this was associated with the fact that the procurement staff had adequate have high level of technical expertise, National procurement regulatory framework had a positive effect on implementation of public procurement Act where it promoted integrity among the employees in regard to the procurement process and also promoted transparency. ICT infrastructure significantly influenced organizational performance this was seen by the ability of the staffs to access the public procurement legislation content by use of ICT and ICT infrastructure up to speed for various procurement processes. There was promotion of integrity among the employees in regard to the procurement process also promoted transparency and accountability According to the study, all state organizations, whether commercial and non-commercial, should use the best procurement methods to increase their performance, competitiveness, and effectiveness in providing public services. Policymakers should place a greater emphasis on enforcement since it provides an incentive for commercial firms to improve their performance by increasing implementation and compliance.