Authors: 1Renas Ayebono Atanga, & 2Hanson Obiri-Yeboah
1&2Lecturer, Department of Purchasing & Supply, School of Business,
1Takoradi Polytechnic & 2Accra Polytechnic
Email: renas_zong@yahoo.com
Abstract
The Public Sector is often seen as the primary focus of governments because of it ability to provide the basic needs of citizens. Despite the aim of governments for their establishment, it is the sector that has suffered mismanagement in terms of the use of Public resources for their management especially in the procurement of goods and services. The Public Procurement Act 2003, (Act 663), is an act that was enacted to bring about uniformity, transparency and judicious use of resources in the Public Sector purchases. According to Osafo-Marfo (2003), Minister for Finance of the Republic of Ghana, government embarked upon an exercise to reform the Public Procurement System in 1996 through the Public Financial Management Reform Programme (PUFMARP). Public procurement in Ghana accounts for about 50% to 70% of total government expenditure represents 14% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounts for about 24% of total imports (Ministry of Finance, 2003). This information explains further the important role of public procurement in the performance of an economies like Ghana. This research work is conducted to find out if the implementation of the Public Procurement act 2003 has brought about efficiency, transparency and value for money in the procurement of general goods at Takoradi Polytechnic. Takoradi Polytechnic was chosen as it undertakes a lot purchases and also is the institution that the researcher could easily get respondents to provide the required information. The researcher used the descriptive research design. This method was deemed appropriate for the study as it gives assessment of the situation on the ground and also determines or reports the way things are. Both primary and secondary sources of data were used. Primary data was collected through the use of structured questionnaires, which were designed and administered to staff of the Procurement Unit, Finance Department, staff of the Purchasing and Supply department, staff from the stores section, internal audit unit and some members of the Board.The researcher used SPSS to analyze the responses that was gathered from the questionnaire. Information was analyzed based on biographic and main data. The study revealed that the implementation of the Act has helped improved upon the procurement of general goods in Takoradi Polytechnic. This improvement is seen in terms of accountability, transparency and efficiency. It is recommended that training of staff on the Act should cover majority of staff. Also, amendment to the Act should cover the thresholds and purchasing procedures.
Keywords: Public Procurement Act, Procurement Law, Procurement Act,
