Procurement Contract Management and Procurement Performance in Parastatal Organisations in Tanzania

Abstract

Despite a lot of initiatives being undertaken by the United Republic of Tanzania to
improve public procurement, the performance of many of the contracted projects is
not satisfactory since a significant amount of public money is lost through
procurement contract management. The aim of this study was to determine the role
of procurement contract management in Tanzania's parastatal entities. The study
examined the impact of contract preparation, the competence of the contract
management team, and the contract allocated budget on procurement performance
and made recommendations for improving it. The study used a quantitative
approach with an explanatory research design whereby data were collected by using
a close-ended questionnaire. Simple random sampling technique was used to select
241 respondents who were heads of departments from the 93 parastatal
organizations. The data were analysed descriptively by computing descriptive
statistics and inferentially using a multiple regression model. The findings indicated
that contract preparation, competence of contract management teams, and contract
allocated budget had significant positive relationships with procurement
performance at p<0.05. The study recommends that parastatal organizations'
management should ensure that there is proper contact preparation, each contract
being managed by a competent contract management team, and there is enough
budget allocation for every project before it is started.