Procurement Procedures and Project Success of Selected Government Institutions in Rwanda

ABSTRACT The purpose of the study was to investigate the effects of procurement procedures on the success of projects in selected government institutions. The objectives of the study were to determine the extent of the procurement procedures in selected government institutions; determine the level of project success in selected government institutions; and to determine if there is a significant relationship between procurement procedures and the success of projects. The main method of data collection was a questionnaire administrated to selected staff in the selected government institutions. The targeted population was 168 from selected Ministries of Finance, Infrastructure, Agriculture, Health, Education and Local Government and the sample size was 118. Sampling of respondents was based on SlovenTs formula. Descriptive research design, means and Pearson correlation coefficient were applied to analyze the findings. The research results indicated that respondents with degree (62.7%) have the biggest representation; over 72% of respondents were aged between 35 and below. Most of the respondents (52.5%) were male while women represented 47,5%. 39% of respondents had working experience of 5 but below 10 years, and 26.3% had working experience of 10 years and above. The extent of procurement procedures in selected government institutions was rated by the average mean of 2,139, whereas the level of project success was rated by the mean range of 2,055. The findings indicated that there is a high positive correlation r=0.672 and a significance of P=0.000 between the procurement procedures and the success of projects. Thus, the findings revealed that there is a significant relationship between procurement procedures and projects success of selected government institutions, then the null hypothesis was rejected. Based on the research results, it was revealed that there is an urgent need for the Government of Rwanda to build and strengthen capacity in procurement procedures for its staff involved in procurement operations at all levels. Also, it was recommended to put in place strong control mechanisms that could help to monitor procurement processing in order to achieve its principal goal that is “value for money”. Putting in place an e-procurement system at national level was also recommended as it would facilitate procurement transactions; reduce delays, fraud and corruptions cases.