Enhancing the contribution of a public sector buying office in public procurement : A study of the University of Zimbabwe's procurement system (2009 - 2013)

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the University of Zimbabwe’s Buying Office had effectively contributed to public procurement processes between 2009 and 2013. Public procurement has been accused of being ineffective thus raising questions on the involvement of a public organisation’s Buying Office. Previous procurement studies have focused more on private sector procurement than public sector procurement. The studies that have specifically examined public procurement have been collective case studies and have not explored complexities within individual cases. Consequently, this study adopted a case study design and a case study strategy in order to gather in-depth evidence on public procurement in a typical public organisation. A qualitative methodology was used in the study in order to contextualise evidence collected from archival documents and records, semi-structured interviews and observations. The unit of analysis was the text unit. Respondents were selected through purposive sampling and theoretical saturation was achieved after interviewing fifteen respondents who represented all levels of the University hierarchy. Texts from interviews and observation notes were analysed through manual content analysis whilst documents and records were examined using the intertextuality method.

The study concluded that the contribution of the University’s Buying Office to the public procurement system was ineffective. Respondents were concerned with the state of the procurement system because the Buying Office failed to satisfy primary procurement interests. The Buying Office also ignored crucial non-procurement interests which were supposed to be achieved through public procurement. The role of the Office was obscure and limited to administrative involvement. A lack of strategic contribution allowed procurement decisions to be dominated by procurement goals. The study established a need for legal and operational reforms to address challenges such as incompetence, inadequate market enquiry and poor decision making by the Buying Office. The study also provided insightful empirical evidence on the limited involvement of a typical Buying Office in public procurement as a result of organisational, individual and product limitations. The study’s conceptual model showed that in the absence of a strategic contribution by the Buying Office, public procurement becomes ineffective.