Assessing the level of compliance of the public procurement ACT 2003 (ACT 663) in public institutions: a case study of Koforidua Polytechnic
Date
2015-04-23
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Abstract
Public Procurement in Ghana has undergone several reviews since independence with the
intent of strengthening Public Financial Management Systems. Major review of public
expenditure system, in 1993, revealed huge and unsustainable foreign debt, excessive budget
deficits, huge contractual payment arrears, poor construction performance, and corruption. The
Public Procurement Act (Act 663) 2003 was introduced in Ghana to streamline the anomalies
in public procurement. The objective of the law is to promote fairness, transparency and ensure
that public procurement is non-discriminatory. However compliance by the entities has been
the greatest challenge in the attainment of the said objectives. The research therefore assessed
the level to which the Development Office of the Koforidua Polytechnic‘s procurement
operations comply with the provisions of the PPA 2003 Act 663 and identified implementation
challenges confronting the smooth implementation of the Act. Structured questionnaire and
face-to-face interviews were used to obtain data for this study. The study confirms that the
Public Procurement Act 2003 (Act 663) is observed to offer solutions but not without
challenges. In the pursuit to improve compliance with the Act the study recommends that
public entities must recruit qualified procurement personnel and organise intensive and regular
procurement training for the personnel handling public procurement especially in the area of
procurement processes, and expediting action on the review process of the Procurement Act,
2003 (Act 663). Proposed projects could be designed such that the construction or
implementation could be done in phases to meet the prevailing approved threshold.
Nonetheless, the proposed increase in thresholds will give Procurement Entities greater control
over procurement decision to reduce lead time and needless delays caused by Tender Review
Boards (TRBs).
Description
A thesis submitted to the Department of Building Technology,
College of Architectur and Planning in partial fulfillment of
the requirement for the Master of Science (MSc.) degree in
Procurement Management, 2014