Barriers and Strategies to Implement e-procurement in the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC) of Sri Lanka

Abstract

Introduction: Public procurement not only delivers goods and services to public, but also ensures value for money. An efficient system is vital to accomplish core principles of public procurement: transparency; fairness; competitiveness; value for money; efficiency, etc. The State Pharmaceuticals Corporation of Sri Lanka (SPC) procures pharmaceuticals for state health sector through traditional procurement which has inefficiencies affecting patient care services. Therefore, introduction of e-procurement in SPC is pivotal. objective: To obtain the perspectives of staff of the SPC about barriers and strategies to implement e-procurement for pharmaceuticals. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was designed to obtain perspectives of staff in selected sections of SPC about barriers and strategies to implement e-procurement for pharmaceuticals. Data was collected by a survey using a self-administered questionnaire which mainly contained five-point Likert scale questions and analysed using SPSS software. Results & conclusion: The majority was dissatisfied with the existing system which is less efficient, costly and less user-friendly. The majority agreed that lack of political and top level commitment, lack of knowledge and skills of the staff, lack of IT experts and necessary infrastructure facilities as barriers for implementation of e-procurement. Political advocacy, training of top level managers and staff members, development of necessary infrastructure facilities and Public-Private Partnership initiatives were perceived as viable strategies. Research implications: The study obtained perspectives of staff about barriers and strategies for e-procurement initiatives, which will support successful implementation as they are the implementers and the end-users.