Public procurement management and delivery of academic materials at public Universities in Uganda : A case study of Kyambogo University

Abstract

This research was about public procurement management and delivery of academic materials at the public universities in Uganda : A case study of Kyambogo University. The main objective was to assess the relationship between procurement management and delivery of academic materials which was decomposed into four objectives : to assess the relationship between procurement planning and delivery of academic materials a Kyambogo University t ; to establish the effect of supplier evaluation and contract award on delivery of academic materials at Kyambogo University ; to establish the relationship between contract management on delivery of academic materials at Kyambogo University; and to establish the effect of contract administration on delivery of academic materials at Kyambogo University. A cross-sectional research design with both quantitative and qualitative techniques was applied on a population of one hundred ninety (190) and a sample of one hundred forty five (145) which comprised of procurement process participants and users of academic materials from three selected faculties. The response rate was seventy eight (78%). It was found that UDs did not generate procurement plans in time, supplier evaluation over-relied on photographs of materials instead of physical items for actual performance appraisal, and it was not clear to the UDs and PDU as to who should manage contracts of supply while payments to suppliers were characterized by long delays. Quantitative data analysis gave high positive and significant relationships between procurement planning, supplier evaluation and contract award, contract management, contract administration, and delivery of academic materials. Also the correlation coefficient, the F-statistic and t - statistic values for the main objective were 0.774, 278.684 and 16.694 respectively, all significant at the 5% probability level. It was then concluded that the relationship between procurement management and delivery of academic materials is positive and significant at Kyambogo University. Thus, for effective delivery of academic materials, the University needed to support UDs in procurement planning, improve its supplier evaluation policy, and to develop capacity of UDs to manage contracts.