The challenges of contract management in the procurement processes in Ghana

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2014-09-04
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Effective and efficiency in the procurement process is very important in all the sectors of the economy, much more, in the public sector where numerous inefficiency and ineffectiveness are recorded. The Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663) of Ghana, which became effective in August, 2004 requires that public entities and organistions undertake procurement of works, goods and services in accordance with the Law. The Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663), provides guidelines for contract management. However, eventhough indicated as a problem, contract management has received very little research attentions both by the PPA and researchers who are interested in procurement issues. The limited research has created limited knowledge on the importance of contract management to the public sector. This study unravels and put into context the effects of breaches of contract in the public sector and the importance of contract management. The aim of the study is to examine the challenges of contract management in the procurement processes in Ghana. This study was more issue-oriented and focused more on case study on the effects and consequences rather than hypothesis testing, based on existing theories using inductive research arguments. A case study approach was chosen since such an approach enables in-depth analysis of a defined phenomenon such as the challenges of procurement. A sample size of 90 respondents was purposively selected for this project work. The number selected was because there are fewer persons employed in the MDAs solely for procurement processes whilst simple random sampling technique was used for the study. The study made use of both primary sources of data and secondary source of data whilst the questionnaires were the main research instrument used for the study and the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) was used for analysis. The findings of the study show that all respondent had acquired some level of education in procurement management and actively participated in the Public Procurement processes in their MDAs under the Public Procurement Act, 2003 (Act 663). In addition most MDAs have contract managers in-charge of their contract management processes. 81% of respondent confirmed their MDAs encountered breach of contract, that, this had happened between 5 and 10 times in the last five (5) years. This has made most MDAs go through several litigations, the reason being due to the poor performance of the parties. It also resulted in increased cost of contract. The poor performance had affected operation of all the MDAs, the reasons being that it raised the cost of the contract as well as lead to the series of court cases which affects their operations as MDAs. Consequently, MDAs would have to engage competent personnel and develop interest in contract management processes in order to avoid the obvious negative implications of poor contract management in the procurement process.
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Thesis submitted to the Department of Building Technology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST),Kumasi in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Procurement Management, 2014
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