An Assessment of the Factors Affecting Effectiveness of Contract Administration in Procurement of Works in Public Sector

Abstract

This study seeks to assess factors affecting effectiveness of contract administration in procurement of works in public sector: A Case of TANAPA – Arusha Region. Specific Objectives are: to assess the contract administration team capability in ensuring effective contract administration, to examine the effectiveness of staff competence in ensuring proper contract administration and to establish measures used to enforce contractual obligation to the Contractor at TANAPA. The Principal –Agent theory and The Will Theory will be used in this study. The research design employs a descriptive approach to investigate the effectiveness of contract administration in public sector procurement within TANAPA - Arusha region, utilizing a quantitative methodology through closed-ended questionnaires. The study's population consists of employees from four departments within TANAPA, employing purposive sampling. Data analysis involves descriptive and inferential statistics, aided by SPSS software, while measures like validity and reliability enhance the research instrument's quality. Ethical considerations encompass informed consent, confidentiality, and adherence to professional standards. This comprehensive approach aims to quantitatively explore and illuminate contract administration challenges and effectiveness, contributing to the understanding of procurement processes in the public sector. The research findings showed that the major factors affecting contract management was incapability of the contract management team whereas the team had no experience, and also most of the staffs had never been in the contract management team but also there was no enough training that was given to the staffs and as well no enough information flow between contract management team but also monitoring was not effective. At the same time the measures used to enforce contractual obligation were not fully implemented. The researcher has recommend on staffs to get enough training that will help them adhere the rules and one to fulfill their responsibilities and also not only consider technical experience in selecting a contract management team rather than focus on other criteria like experience and physical capability but also use other measures rather than dispute settlement process which is costly and needs time to reach conclusion.