Contract Management and Quality of Roads under Uganda National Roads Authority: A Case Study of Masaka District

Abstract

The overall objective of this study was to examine the relationship between Contract Management and the quality of roads constructed and supervised by Uganda National Roads Authority using Masaka District as the case study. The specific objectives were to find out how contract planning affects the quality of roads, to establish the relationship between contract controlling and quality of roads, to establish the relationship between Contract Communication and the quality of roads. The intervening variables were political influence and media publicity. The study employed a triangulation of designs, A case study supported by a correlation design were used to collect both qualitative and quantitative data which was analyzed to give statistical frequencies, correlation statistics and regression models that were used to measure the direction, strength, significance and effect of independent variables on the dependant variable. Study findings revealed that contract communication had the highest correlation of 42% and t-value 5.031, contract control explained for 22.6% while planning explained for 15.9%. This study concluded that contract management has a significant positive relationship with quality of work The study recommended that planning for quality should be highly considered for road contracts as well as incentives for achieving quality be more emphasized to support the regulations on quality. Mechanisms for consistently tracking progress of all infrastructural projects should be put in place to ensure that deviations from expected quality are solved on time, Government to introduce management systems to be used as a quicker means of accessing information related to infrastructural development. Government should also look into low bid award environment as in many cases low bids compromise quality.