Factors affecting effective contract management in public sector agencies in Uganda : A case of the National Population Council (NPC)

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the factors affecting effective contract management at National Population Council in Uganda. The objectives of the study were to establish the relationship between terms of reference, contract monitoring, risk management as the identified independent variables (factors) and effective contract management as the dependent variable. The study used correlation cross sectional design adopting quantitative and qualitative approaches. The study was conducted at National Population Council on a target population of 55 and a sample size of 48 respondents but the actual respondents were 38 giving a total response rate of 79%. The respondents included accounting officer, contracts committee members, staff of the User departments and PDU. The data collection methods included survey where a questionnaire was administered to staff and this was supplemented by interviews with some key informants. Data was analyzed using SPSS where descriptive statistics like means and standard deviations were computed, and correlation analysis to determine correlation coefficients regarding relationship among study variables were computed. Qualitative data was analyzed based on themes and categories of study variables. The findings revealed a statistically positive but moderate significant relationship between the independent variables (factors) and effective contract management as the dependent variables (R2 = 0.420, sig=001). All the three factors accounted for about 42% of the variations in effective contract management. Individually, Statement of requirement was found to be the most important factor likely to affect contract management (r=3.85, sign=0.025). With clear statement of requirements, contract monitoring and risk management effective contract management can easily be achieved. The researcher accordingly recommends improvements always to develop terms of reference for services procured at NPC. There is also a need to high standards of contract monitoring and this will require training staff. NPC should ultimately need to allocate more resources on risk management mechanisms in order to achieve effective contract management.