Reducing Contract Management Challenges in Public Sector Procurement in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The State Procurement Board procedures and the public procurement process have been criticized for much of the lagging behind of government projects, such as the construction of roads, provision of clean water and sewer reticulation, amongst others (The Herald, 20 January 2018). The awarding of tenders for various projects has resulted in the delay or non-completion of crucial projects. This study aims to investigate the public procurement process in Zimbabwe, identify procurement challenges in the Zimbabwe public sector that detract from service delivery and suggest strategies to reduce contract management challenges in public sector procurement. The study adopted a mixed approach to research. The systematic random sampling method was adopted to select respondents for quantitative research while the purposive method was adopted to select respondents for qualitative research. The SPSS version 20.0 was adopted to analyse quantitative data while the reduction method was used for qualitative data. Findings reveal that there is no standard meaning for contract management in public sector procurement. The study revealed that to avoid delays in supply and provision of services, electronic-procurement (E-procurement) was pointed out as one of the solutions as that can enhance transparency of the procurement process, efficiency and policy coherence. Poor planning was also identified as one of the challenges of public procurement. The study recommended that Public sector organizations should adopt a strategic approach to contract management practices.