Assessment of Factors Affecting the Implementation of Framework Contracts in Local Government Authorities: A Case of Tanga City Council

Abstract

Public procurement performance is critical to the public sector due to the substantial public funds spent on acquiring goods, works, and services. The study aimed to examine the moderating effect of political interference on staff competency toward the achievement of procurement performance in parastatal organizations in Tanzania. Grounded on the stakeholder and the resource-based view theories, the study adopted the explanatory research design. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from heads of departments from 93 state-owned organizations in the Dar es Salaam Region. A sample of 256 respondents was randomly selected using the Yamane formula from a population of 712 heads of departments. Data were analyzed using SPSS and the PROCESS macro (Model 1) to examine whether political interference moderates the relationship between procurement staff competence and procurement performance. The findings revealed that staff competence has a positive influence on the performance of the procurement function within the organization. On the other hand, the study found that political interference in the procurement process, particularly during the tendering stage and contract implementation, negatively affects procurement performance. However, the results further indicated that political interference does not significantly moderate the relationship between staff competence and procurement performance. The study concluded that improved procurement performance within the organization is largely attributable to competent staff, whereas political interference contributes to poor procurement performance. The study recommends that organizational management should invest in enhancing staff competence, particularly through training, certification, clear career paths, and competence management systems in order to improve procurement performance, and should ensure that the procurement function is protected from political interference; as such interference has a detrimental effect on procurement processes.