Capella University
June 2015
Abstract
The outcome of public procurement reforms being carried out in most developing
countries is negligible and has not provided significant support for good governance in
the procurement sector despite having sound objectives with the initiatives. Presently,
most of the governments around the world are implementing e-government procurement
(e-GP) systems as a tool for public procurement reform for better governance in the
public procurement sector. The implementation of e-procurement has been accepted as
one of the most promising and feasible options for governments in delivering enhanced
governance in the acquisition of goods, works, and services for the public sector. This
action research analyzed the implementation of the e-GP system in a developing country
using quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis following the utilizationfocused evaluation framework. The study focused in the utility of the e-GP system,
addressing different dimensions of good governance and emphasizing transparency,
accountability, corruption control, efficiency, effectiveness and predictability, easy
access, rule of law and equity, and civil society awareness. It studied the users
perception about the role of the e-GP system in public procurement good governance, the
users attitude towards e-GP system use, and the e-GP systems impact on good
governance. The research revealed that an e-GP system significantly enables and
enhances good governance in the public procurement sector. The research indicated that
an e-GP system can be fully leveraged for enhancing good governance if, among other
things, a comprehensive e-GP system implementation framework is followed with
adequate planning, phasing of implementation is based on the procurement cycle basis
rather than an incremental functional basis, and the e-GP system addresses all the key
aspects of good governance rather than focusing only on 1 or 2 aspects in isolation.
Dedication
I dedicate this dissertation to my dear wife, Dr. Dhandu Rani Shakya; my son,
Ayush; and daughter Ayusha, without whose encouragement, strength, support, and
enduring patience, the completion of this dissertation would not have been possible. In
addition, I always feel blessings from my late dad and mom, and support from my sisters
and brother.
iv
Acknowledgments
This dissertation came to this shape with the tremendous help and support of
many people. I would first like to thank my mentor and committee chair, Dr. Cathie
Witty, for all of her advice, motivation, and patience she gave me throughout the
dissertation process. I would like to extend special thanks to my committee members, Dr.
Cherise Moore and Dr. Joan Vermillion, who kept me honest and insisted that I go that
extra mile to make the dissertation precise and clear. I sincerely thank Tanka Mani
Sharma and Naresh Kumar Chapagain for facilitating environment, and Bhim Khatiwada
in the survey field test and coordinating the participants of the focus group discussions. I
also want to thank all the respondents from public entities, and procurement officers and
bidders of this study for providing valuable advice. I also want to thank several
colleagues, including V. S. Krishnakumar, Knut Leipold, S. M. Quamrul Hassan, Dr.
Paul Schapper, and Hunt La Cascia for keeping me motivated.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
List of Tables
ix
List of Figures
xii
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
10
13
Rationale
13
Research Questions
16
17
Definition of Terms
19
24
Conceptual Framework
25
32
34
34
34
37
CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY
46
46
Research Design
55
vi
Sample
57
Instrumentation
59
Data Collection
61
Data Analysis
62
Ethical Considerations
65
CHAPTER 4. RESULTS
68
Site Description
68
69
70
Data Collection
84
Survey Results
87
95
98
Summary
114
116
117
118
134
Conclusions
136
141
143
Summary
145
REFERENCES
147
vii
158
165
176
188
193
viii
List of Tables
Table 1. Reliability Analysis for Dimensions of Good Governance Factors
73
84
85
96
Table B1. KaiserMeyerOlkin Measure and Bartletts Test Data for Transparency
165
166
167
Table B4. KaiserMeyerOlkin Measure and Bartletts Test Data for Accountability 168
Table B5. Communalities for Accountability
168
169
Table B7. KaiserMeyerOlkin Measure and Bartletts Test Data for Corruption
Control
169
170
170
Table B10. KaiserMeyerOlkin Measure and Bartletts Test Data for Efficiency,
Effectiveness, and Predictability
170
171
171
Table B13. KaiserMeyerOlkin Measure and Bartletts Test Data for Easy Access
172
172
173
ix
Table B16. KaiserMeyerOlkin Measure and Bartletts Test Data for Rule of
Law and Equity
173
174
Table B18. Total Variance Explained for Rule of Law and Equity
174
Table B19. KaiserMeyerOlkin Measure and Bartletts Test Data for Civil
Society Awareness
175
175
175
176
Table C2. Friedman Chi-Square for Goodness-for-Fit Test Results for Transparency 177
Table C3. Friedman Test Results for Accountability
178
178
179
Table C6. Friedman Chi-Square for Goodness-for-Fit Test Results for Corruption
Control
179
Table C7. Friedman Test Results for Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Predictability
179
Table C8. Friedman Chi-Square for Goodness-for-Fit Test Results for Efficiency,
Effectiveness, and Predictability
180
180
Table C10. Friedman Chi-Square for Goodness-for-Fit Test Results for Easy Access 180
Table C11. Friedman Test Results for Rule of Law and Equity
181
Table C12. Friedman Chi-Square for Goodness-for-Fit Test Results for Rule of
Law and Equity
181
181
Table C14. Friedman Chi-Square for Goodness-for-Fit Test Results for Civil
Society Awareness
182
183
184
185
xi
List of Figures
Figure 1. Objectives of e-procurement.
27
30
48
58
60
97
195
197
xii
CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION
Introduction to the Problem
Procurement policies establish the practice of procurement to apply methods and
public financial resources that produce the best social and economic outcomes, within a
value set that is ethical, nondiscriminatory and transparent. This establishes the objectives
of public procurement in terms of principles that includes value-for-money, transparency,
open and effective competition, nondiscrimination, accountability and due process. In the
opinion of Veiga Malta, Schapper, Calvo-Gonzalez, and Berroa (2011), these principles
describe both the ends and the means of public procurement.
The underlying concept is that good governance in public procurement sector
exists when public money is spent for the right purpose aiming to procure with the right
quality, right quantity, and right price at right time and place from the right source.
Morita and Zaelke (2005) stated that many factors play an important role in
socioeconomic development but good governance is now recognized as playing an
essential role in the achievement of sustainable socioeconomic development of a country.
The authors also agree that good governance is supported by clear decision-making
procedures at the level of public authorities, civil society participation as well as the
ability to enforce rights and obligations through legal mechanisms.
Governance is a broad and inclusive concept that covers formal as well as
informal spheres of life in any human society, emphasizing the importance of compliance
1
principles are generally provisioned through the Public Procurement Act and detailed
processes, methods, and rules are devised in the Public Procurement Regulations.
Presently, most of the governments around the world implement e-procurement
systems as a tool for public procurement reform for better governance in the public
procurement sector (Callender & Schapper, 2003; Wittig, n.d.). This action research was
rooted in the recognition that despite having sound objectives with public procurement
reform initiatives, and significant resources invested for that, the reforms are negligible in
most developing countries. Developing countries are characterized by low and middle
income (World Bank, 2013), low levels of industrialization, poor infrastructure, slow in
technology adoption, widespread illiteracy, and poor living standards among their
populations as a whole (Al Moalla & Li, 2010).
One of the reasons they are getting fewer results could be that the potentials of eprocurement systems are not fully utilized, and the procurement sector could not obtain
significant support for a sustainable framework for good governance from the policy
level (Ladipo, Sanchez, & Sopher, 2009). Hence, this action research analyzed the
implementation of the e-procurement system in one of the developing countries in terms
of its utility addressing different dimensions of good governance by measuring the users
perception about the role of the e-procurement in public procurement good governance,
their attitude towards its use, and finally the impact on good governance. The research
problem relates to all public development issues as public procurement deals with public
funds, and the direct impact would be for the public entities spending public money, the
bidders (goods suppliers, works contractors, service consultants) participating in
Neupane, Soar, Vaidya, and Yong (2012) believed that the proper e-procurement
management can reduce government corruption. Lee and Lee (2012) observed that the
decisions needed for enhancing good governance are inadequate, untimely, and not based
on feedback systems, knowledge, experience, and country environment. Adequate
attention to the e-procurement has not been given because of the conflict between the
technical and political requirements, and interests of the implementing countries.
The conduct of public procurement has often reflected tensions between public
expectations of high standards of governance, management requirements for
performance, and overt (and covert) political influence and pressure from broader
stakeholder interests such as business. In many jurisdictions there is often conflict
between procurement regulations (or lack of) intended for transparency and risk
mitigation versus environment designed for achievement of outcomes and broader
policy objectives. (Curtin University of Technology, 2007, p. 20)
For the last 2 decades, e-procurement systems have grown rapidly in different
countries. One of the major factors that drive this trend is the political commitment by
many governments to increase public procurement transparency (European Parliament
and the Council, 2004). Most of the previous systems were developed with a focus on
efficiency, not transparency. The web-based procurement-related information portal did
not necessarily extend its functionalities to improving procurement management and
streamlining the workflow processes of procurement (Carayannisa & Popescu, 2005;
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2005).
The efficacy, utilization, and completeness of e-procurement mainly impact the
bidding communities (suppliers of goods and services, contractors), citizens, society,
government procurement agencies, and regulatory/oversight bodies.
If the perceived benefits of an e-procurement system are not achieved, the
stakeholders lose their faith in reform process and uphold the status quo in terms of
5
dominant political concern has been the principles of transparency, equity, and fair
dealing, management of public procurement through an extensive regulatory framework
often constitutes the status quo.
The Multilateral Development Bank, comprising the Asian Development Bank,
the Inter-American Development Bank, and the World Bank, are using an electronic
government procurement readiness assessment developed in November 2004 to conduct a
high-level review of its procurement environment and determine the level of readiness in
the country to make a smooth transition to e-procurement. The implementing countries
already feel that the instrument should be updated.
The joint World Bank and Organization for Economic Co-operation and
Development Assistance Committee Procurement Round Table initiative, developing
countries, and bilateral and multilateral donors developed a set of tools and standards
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development methodologythat provide
guidance for improvements in procurement systems and the results they produce
(Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2006a) but does not cover
e-procurement. Similar to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
Assistance Committee, the World Bank also uses the country procurement assessment
report to assist its member countries in analyzing their present procurement policies,
organization, and procedures.
Concha et al. (2012) proposed the comprehensive e-government procurement (eGP) observatory maturity model, which aims to satisfy four e-GP high-level
requirements, for each participant agency:
Identifying its current state of maturity and capability in an integral, multiaspect manner
Comparing itself with other governments evaluated with the same model
Informing policymakers about its readiness for integration with other egovernment initiatives, and defining improvement programs when required
The e-GP observatory maturity model provides the guidance only for the start-up
activities to be carried out by the governments before implementation of the e-GP system.
This action research considered the e-GP observatory maturity model while developing
an e-GP implementation framework, which was one of the outcomes of this research.
Country Focus on the Aspects of Good Governance
There are many possible factors contributing to the issue of good governance.
Governments in developing countries are taking e-procurement as an introduction of
information and communications technologies in the government. Such intended or
unintended focus taken by the governments in implementing e-procurement systems
could be the reason of fewer outcomes (Ladipo et al., 2009). Another possible factor may
be the lack of clear policy of the government on the use and practice of e-procurement.
Asiimbwe (2012) reported news citing the observation of a procurement expert in
Uganda, saying, Lack of clear policies is hindering the use of e-procurement in Uganda
(p. 1). She noted that it is a challenge to build and sustain relationships with entities,
which are not prepared to go online, and small businesses not enabled for e-procurement.
On the other hand, the Government of Bangladesh has issued a Guideline for eGovernment Procurement clearly explaining the policy as well as procedures and
8
practices for the use of e-GP. As the result of such clarity, the current e-procurement
implementation trend has experienced an upsurge beyond projections, which is resulting
in a more positive procurement environment.
Curtin University of Technology (2007) pointed that many countries are focusing
merely on cost saving by the use of e-procurement than their focus on enhancing overall
good governance. The author indicated another problem may arise from the deployment
of e-procurement system without adequate business process reengineering of the
traditional procurement processes and practices before introducing into the eprocurement. One of the reasons could be that little attention has been paid to the need
for periodical measurement of the e-GP systems performance and goal satisfaction
(Concha et al., 2012, p. 550) as well as not considering the e-procurement in systemic
manner as a mainstream tool which can enhance the comprehensive dimensions of good
governance in procurement sector. Curtin University of Technology (2007) listed the key
lessons learned by most of the countries, which relate to ensuring
and support all aspects of good governance that seamlessly link with the principles of
public procurement. The action research follows a utilization-focused evaluation of eprocurement implementation in one of the developing countries using a contribution
analysis framework (Patton, 2012b), to analyze the country-based lessons on eprocurement as they relate to implementation around the world.
Statement of the Problem
Not only in the Public Procurement Monitoring and Regulatory Agency of the
research site country but also in any other countries, there is no evidence of academic
studies or practitioner evaluation that have attempted to assess the role of an eprocurement system in enhancing good governance in the public procurement sector by
applying an integrated and comprehensive model of research including the application of
good governance standards. Additionally, there is incomplete knowledge of the
underlying attitudes, perceptions, and knowledge of any dimensions that could have an
impact on good governance for the public procurement sector.
If good governance in the procurement sector is not effective, it could lead to poor
strategic country development as most nations spend about 20% of gross domestic
product on public procurement (Callender & Mathews, 2000; R. Carter & Grimm, 2001),
and developing nations spend up to 50% (Schiavo-Campo & Sundaram, 2000, p. 315).
E-procurement in the site country was started by the comprehensive study by the
Asia Foundation (Shakya, 2003). This study focused on feasibility and challenges, and
prepared a roadmap for e-GP implementation in the country. An e-GP readiness
assessment conducted in 2007, even before the procurement monitoring and regulatory
agency was established, assigned the country a reasonable score of 2.22 out of 4 in level
10
of readiness. The major influence on this score was the lack of an appropriate lead agency
to drive and sponsor this procurement reform, according to the World Bank; however,
several building blocks for the implementation of e-procurement in the country are
already in place.
Internet connectivity is available in almost all government administrative
premises up to local level, and a significant number of rural community centers, cybercafes, and business centers are established across the country with information and
communications technologies facilities. Currently, the public procurement and
monitoring agency is established and strongly fulfilling its mandate of governing public
procurement sector in the country including the introduction of a unitary national eprocurement system. By this time, the journey of e-procurement in the country has come
a long way, but still needs a clear strategy to take the initiative forward.
In an earlier discussion, Shakya (2003) noted that a lack of transparency in
government procurement has been a systemic problem in public procurement reform. In
addition, inefficiency due to manual and paper-driven procurement processes has resulted
in poor service and low sales volume (p. 54). The study found that establishing an eprocurement system could help improve transparency, efficiency, and value-for-money in
government procurement. Stakeholders (government agencies and suppliers) showed
their support for the e-procurement concept following this study, stating that
The government should capitalize this concept and encourage community to go in
the direction of e-procurement. The strategy should recognize that there are
elements of risk, which are unavoidable. If the full benefits of e-procurement are
to be realized it should be managed very cautiously. The implementation of the eprocurement strategy will face a number of potential barriers and challenges. To
help the change processes take place, key areas of concern have been identified
and ways to address those potential issues noted. (Shakya, 2003, p. 54)
11
The public procurement regulatory and monitoring agency, as per the mandate of
the 2007 Public Procurement Act and 2008 Public Procurement Regulations, started the
phased development of centralized e-GP system. Phase I (from the procurement process
of preparing annual procurement plan up to e-bid submission functions) of this system
were already rolled out in 2012; however, there were gaps, which are addressed by the
Phase II (with the functionalities of e-bid opening, e-evaluation, e-payment, contract
management, and procurement management information system) recently being
implemented.
The e-procurement system in the country is conceived as an Internet-based single,
central, and collaborative government procurement platform for all the public
procurements by the government. All the stakeholders in the procurement process get
appropriate access using their secured user name and access codes, and will have private
secured working dashboards. Direct users of the system are all the public procuring
entities, bidders, and the public procurement regulatory and monitoring agency and other
government oversight entities, tertiary service providers enabling services of eprocurement, and maintenance service providers and the general public.
Presently, most of the governments around the world are implementing the e-GP
systems as a tool for public procurement reform for better governance in this sector
(Callender & Schapper, 2003; Wittig, n.d.). The research problem explored in this study
is rooted in the fact that despite having sound objectives of public procurement reform
initiatives with significant resources investment, the outcome of reforms in most of the
developing countries is negligible as noted earlier, because the potential of e-GP systems
are not fully used and do not have significant support for a good governance framework
12
(Ladipo et al., 2009). This action research studied and analyzed the full utilization of the
e-GP system in the country in terms of its role in enhancing good governance, and
included all available different functions, processes, practices and available technologies.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this research was focused on evaluating the utilization of the eprocurement system that contributes to good governance in public procurement
(emphasizing compliance with ethical virtues on public procurement as transparency,
accountability, corruption control, efficiency, effectiveness and predictability, easy
access, rule of law and equity, and civil society awareness) in public procurement.
Findings will enhance improvements in the e-procurement system use and its
implementation to deliver better public service through e-procurement.
Rationale
There is a vacuum of research-based knowledge base on the role of e-GP in terms
of addressing good governance agenda of the public procurement reform. Chvalkovsk
and Skuhrovec (2010) explored the Transparency Index in public organizations as an
influence of the e-procurement implementation. Ermal and Miranda (2012) studied the
efficiency of the Albanian e-procurement system in the reduction of corruption in public
procurement practices. A Curtin University of Technology (2007) Multilateral
Development Bank surveyonly one survey so far on e-procurement systems in
Asia/Oceania, South America, and Europewas carried out as part of a project of the
Multilateral Development Bank Harmonization of e-Procurement Group. This survey
aimed only to provide information for jurisdictions that were at the inception stage of
13
implementing e-procurement and was designed to provide information on e-tendering, ereverse auctioning, and e-purchasing systems in relation to
their design and whether the desired goals of good governance in public procurement
initiatives have been achieved.
This research chose to focus on the good governance aspect of the e-procurement
system in one of the developing countries, because this issue is especially important in
the developing countries, in which public funds are significantly abused under the cover
of public procurement. Using good governance as the focus for the study provided
meaningful insight into possible problems with the implementation e-procurement
systems in the country. The main site for the research is the public procurement
regulatory and monitoring agency of the site country.
There have not been other studies on the study of perception on the role of eprocurement systems in contributing to good governance in an integrated system.
Therefore, results gained through a study done in the site country will strengthen and
facilitate research on e-procurement systems in other countries with similar situations.
This action research supports improving the accountability of government
officers, efficiency in the procurement process, reduction of corruption, and creation a
favorable environment for bidders to participate in government businesses (contracts)
with trust and confidence; it also promotes the enhancement of good governance in
public procurement by analyzing the gaps in current implementation and practice.
These outcomes are possible through an ongoing collaborative process between
the research facilitator and the program stakeholders working within their focus groups to
evaluate the programs resources, gather data, evaluate findings and execute the
recommendations (Patton, 2012a).
15
16
A survey was conducted to collect data under seven sets of questions to assess
perceptions about the relationship e-procurement within the operational objective
dimensions of good governance: transparency; accountability; corruption control;
efficiency, effectiveness and predictability; easy access; rule of law and equity; and civil
society awareness.
The survey also collected demographic data of the respondents such as age group,
respondent type, years of e-procurement use, and annual participation in e-procurement.
The survey was designed to identify the best practices e-procurement governance and the
required measures of intervention in e-procurement systems for the benefits of good
governance.
Significance of the Study
The study of the role of e-procurement system in enhancing good governance in
the public procurement sector holds an immense significance in e-procurement domain
globally. The results of the study should provide insights and guiding framework for the
public procurement regulatory and monitoring agency of the site country as well as
global public procurement community in case of the perception, attitude, and knowledge
to improve the e-procurement implementation. The study analyses current setting of
practices, gaps, challenges in an e-procurement system, and provides insights on
improvements to be made to overcome the good-governance-related inconsistencies.
In order for research to provide meaningful outcomes, the researcher analyzed the
available theoretical concepts and international practices. The following aspects represent
the key significance of the study:
17
18
The definitions of terms discussed as follows are presented to show how these
terms are defined within the scope of this study:
19
Accountability. Accountability means that officials are responsible for the actions
and decisions that they take in relation to procurement and for the resulting outcomes,
and secondly that their actions and decisions are transparent (Commonwealth of
Australia, Department of Finance and Deregulation, Business Procurement and Asset
Management Group, 2013).
Civil society awareness. To ensure accountability, transparency mechanisms such
as public oversight and monitoring, are important. Civil society can play an important
role in raising awareness around public procurement and other areas of public financial
management (Jeppesen, 2010). According to Kpundeh (2004), the aim of this awareness
raising is to exert political pressure and pressure to the public officials to use public
resources only for the benefits of citizens, not for their private purposes (p. 259).
Corruption control. Corruption in public procurement relates to the awarding of
public procurement contracts to a preselected supplier to the detriment of the public
interest through violation of the principles of competition for the purpose of gaining
personal benefit (Pashev, Dyulgerov, & Kaschiev, 2006). Of all government activities,
public procurement is most vulnerable to corruption.
The favoritism with regard to a specific supplier, which is harmful to the public
interest, can be observed anywhere from the smallest day-to-day supplies to the
biggest tendering procedures directly supervised and controlled by senior
government officials. The personal benefit can take the form of cash, power, jobs
in the private or public sector, and so on. (p. 5)
Easy access. Building the capacity of bidders has been identified as one of the
success factors of public procurement reforms. Many bidders are limited in various
capacity issues including lack of basic knowledge in the law, inadequate capacity to
appreciate the standard tender documents, poor access to tender information and
20
21
22
23
chosen for this research through the survey of stakeholders involved in public
procurement activities in the country. As a result, the findings from the surveys may not
be generalizable to other globally strategic implementations of e-procurement systems.
Additionally, implementation approaches are different in different countries, and this also
limits the generalization of any findings to larger strategic levels. The research effort
focused on sampled number of participants to gather perceptual data. The resultant data
on perception could be different if the e-procurement system implementation is assessed
later, in a few years.
Conceptual Framework
There is no consensus on what constitutes good governance and that is not a
purpose of this study. Siddiquee and Mohamed (2007) stated that
Good governance involves much more than efficient management of economic
and social resources or improved delivery of public services; it essentially relates
to the quality of relationship between the government and the governed. It also
involves relationships and cooperation among the public sector, private agencies
and civil society organizations in policy processes as well as the delivery of
services. (p. 288)
Researchers study the implementation of e-procurement in the public sector from
two different perspectives. The majority of research focuses on success factors of the eprocurement implementation and another as an intervention for reform. This research
falls under the second stream. Considerable research attention has focused on the linkage
between e-procurement and corruption reduction, the relationship between cost saving
and e-procurement, the potential of e-procurement to improve transparency and
efficiency in public procurement, and e-procurement and accountability.
25
For the purpose of this study, however, the terms of good governance are used
after analyzing the considerable body of scholarship available in public procurement and
e-procurement sector, and their implementations. The researcher believes good
governance in public procurement can be achieved only with the balanced contribution of
different factors addressing the core principles of procurement. The theory that this
researcher establishes here puts focus on an integrated model, which covers the whole
spectrum of dimensions of good governance in public procurement. The dimensions
under this study include (a) transparency; (b) accountability; (c) corruption control; (d)
efficiency, effectiveness, and predictability; (e) easy access; (f) rule of law and equity;
and (g) civil society awareness.
E-GP, or e-procurement, is more than just a government website on the Internet to
publish information about the procurement opportunities and other related information.
The strategic objectives of e-procurement (see Figure 1) are to enhance good governance
in public procurement sector, obtain value-for-money, and socioeconomic development
in the country (Shakya, 2014). The good governance aspect of the e-procurement
supports and simplifies governance for all stakeholders involved in public procurement:
public/procuring entities, suppliers from business, oversight and regulatory authorities,
and citizens.
The use of the e-procurement system can connect all stakeholders and support
processes for online procurement transactions and other related activities. In other words,
e-GP supports and stimulates good governance. Therefore, the objectives of eprocurement run parallel to the objectives of good governance. Implementation of eprocurement system for the good governance can be seen as an exercise of economic,
26
political, and administrative authority to better manage the public procurement sector in
the electronic environment.
with acceptable variance across various studies. Although a large number of theories and
theoretical constructs were borrowed from the reference disciplines, their utilization by eprocurement researchers appears to be largely random in approach.
Rogers (2003) suggested that technological innovation will be adopted smoothly
and diffuse faster if it possesses five attributes: relative advantage, triability,
observability, complexity, and compatibility. Studies of innovation adoption have been
using these attributes amongst others in their search for factors influencing technological
innovation adoption. In case of this study, e-procurement as an innovative tool for reform
in public procurement sector is required to be adopted by its stakeholders, mainly by the
procuring agencies, bidders, and regulatory/oversight agencies.
Because of its adoption and diffusion in the public procurement sector, it is
expected to enhance good governance in the sector through its relative advantages such
as increased transparency, transparency, efficiency, effectiveness, predictability in
procurement and procurement opportunities, equal treatment to the bidders, compliance
to the acts and regulations by enforcing rule of law through the behavioral changes in
carrying out the procurement processes. Most of such e-procurement initiations are
initially pilot implemented (triability) to confirm the observability. After the successful
trial of the e-procurement system implementation, it should be diffused across the similar
procuring agencies with dynamic sustainable adoption model. The e-procurement
systems should be easy to access and should not marginalize any prospective bidders
giving equal competitiveness and provide user-friendly user interface and simplicity to
understand avoiding complexity of the classical procurement processes and practices
after adequate business process reengineering. Despite the comprehensive business
28
process reengineering, the e-procurement system should still be compliant and maintain
its compatibility with the prevalent Public Procurement Act, Public Procurement
Regulations, and guidelines.
As stated previously, this study evaluated whether the use of the e-GP as a
technological innovation contributes to good governance in the procurement sector of the
government of the country chosen for the research. The public procurement regulatory
and monitoring agency of the country has already completed the trial run of the eprocurement system, developed in compliance with the Public Procurement Act and
Public Procurement Regulations, and currently at the phase of nationwide diffusion
(rollout implementation) and stakeholder adoption.
The level of coordinated incorporation, integration of public procurement, and
different dimensions of good governance in process and practices of the e-procurement
system development and implementation influence the role of e-procurement in
enhancing good governance. However, having all the best practices and dimensions of
good governance in a single system may require considerable understanding of the
principles of good governance in public procurement. The model developed in this study
for accessing the role of e-procurement is focused on enhancing good governance in
public procurement sector generates a comprehensive integrated framework for the
governments implementing e-procurement system.
The perceptions of three groups of stakeholders were assessed: procuring entities,
bidders, and regulatory/oversight agencies. The attitudes of responsible executives
regulating and oversight agencies, procuring entity executives and procurement
professional, emphasizing good governance commitment are also important (Ararat &
29
Ugur, 2003). Public procurement professionals and bidding community have a major
influence on enhancing good governance (Hui, Othman, Omar, Rahman, & Haron, 2011).
Strong governance commitment is required in order to implement an appropriate E-GP
system that ensures transparency (Leipold, 2007).
Research Framework
A conceptual research framework is designed with seven constructs supported by
70 nonparametric questions (see Figure 2). The survey also collected demographic data
of the respondents by four parametric questions (i.e., age group, respondent type, year of
e-procurement use, and their annual participation in e-procurement).
30
A solid conceptual good governance framework was needed for this research, and
is embedded in e-procurement system framework for the good governance in public
procurement underlying this research. Each one of these operational variables of the good
governance framework, which derives its theoretical and conceptual underpinning of the
e-procurement system, has been taken as central to the good governance in public
procurement. The main hypotheses of the study were
Accountability.
Corruption control.
Easy access.
Civil society.
32
governance, good governance, and its relatively new concepts around e-governance and
then the good governance through e-procurement.
Chapter 3 outlines the overall research design and methodology for the remainder
of the study. It states the specific hypotheses that the survey instrument sought to validate
or reject. It includes the specific methodologies that the researcher used to gather
quantitative data to support or reject these hypotheses. Included in Chapter 3 are the
specific questions that supported the constructs of each one of the hypotheses outlined.
Finally, the remainder of Chapter 3 outlines the data collection methodologies in order to
support the data analysis and findings in Chapters 4 and 5.
33
government related. Economic corruption is the use of public resources for private gains.
Political corruption is the violation of the formal rules governing the allocation of public
resources by administrators for financial gains or political support (Ampratwum, 2008).
E-GP can provide a solution to address the problems of the lack of transparency and
accountability, efficiency, effectiveness and predictability, corruption control, rule of law
and ethics, easy access to procurement opportunities, bureaucratic inefficiency and
ineffectiveness, nepotism, and cronyism.
According to Arrowsmith, Treumer, Fej, and Jiang (n.d.), the last decade of the
20th century witnessed the start of a global revolution in the regulation of public
procurement. Actually, challenges in procurement reforms are beyond procurement
regulations to include procurement process, methods, procurement organizational
structure, and workforce. According to Thai (2001), procurement reforms occur
constantly in all countries, developed as well as developing countries. The purpose and
scope of reforms may vary from country to country depending on the problems in the
country, but fundamental principles of procurement are in general same either that is in
the developing country or in the developed country. The evolution of procurement is
ongoing, from bureaucratic, manual process, green procurement to e-procurement
systems. Therefore, the efforts have been made for the reform activities for the good
governance in key sectors.
Turning to actual public procurement reforms, procurement laws, and their
implementation, only a small literature has emerged on public procurement practices.
Few studies attempt cross-country comparisons of reform experiences or procurement
practicesexceptions being Trepte (1998) for Bhutan and Laos, and Wittig (1998) for
36
South Africa and Uganda. Moreover, only a few of the articles attempt any form of
impact assessment, benchmarking, quantification of the costs, benefits, or effects of
existing procurement practices or reform initiatives.
Further, the sheer magnitude of resources devoted to public procurement compels
attention. Most nations spend about 20% of gross domestic product on public
procurement (Callender & Mathews, 2000; R. Carter & Grimm, 2001), and developing
nations spend up to 50% (Schiavo-Campo & Sundaram, 2000, p. 315). In the United
States, federal public procurement during 2009 accounted for over $534 billion (General
Services Administration, n.d.) and over 13% of the total federal budget; of the U.S.
states annual budgets, roughly half goes toward goods and services procured from the
private sector (Knight, Caldwell, Harland, & Telgen, 2003).
According to Schapper (2008), civil society awareness and oversight of
procurement processes can enhance governance from the demand side. The author
recommended using e-procurement for enhancing transparency and civil awareness.
Schapper stated,
E-procurement has a range of potential benefits for both process and transparency.
Procurement of goods, works, and services through Internet-based information
technologies (e-procurement) is emerging worldwide with the potential to reform
processes, improve market access, and promote integrity in public procurement.
However, rather than a technical solution, e-procurement should be considered
part of procurement reform in general. (p. 115)
Objectives of Public Procurement
Good governance, value-for-money, and socioeconomic development are the
objectives for procurement (Shakya, 2014). It should be noted that these objectives are
focused on outputs and results rather than procedures.
37
The public procurement system manages up to 20% of the gross domestic product
(Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2006b). A system that
performs well in terms of productivity, efficiency, and integrity has wide-ranging
national benefits. On the other hand, weaknesses in procurement management under
deliver social services, increase sovereign risk for foreign investment, and reduce
national economic growth (International Monetary Fund, 2010). The urgency of
achieving high performance standards in public procurement has been emphasized by the
International Monetary Fund (1998), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (1999), and the
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2006a), which can be
established only through the establishment of best practice in terms of the application of
methods and resources that produce the best social and economic outcomes from public
financial resources, within a value framework of good governance.
Another source of information is the country procurement assessment reports
prepared by the World Bank and other development agencies. These reports provide a
diagnostic assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the procurement systems in
individual developing countries. The country procurement assessment reports are
publicly available through the World Bank website. According to Evenett and Hoekman
(2005), the country procurement assessment report process has led to recommendations
and financing of action plans to modernize or reform existing procurement systems in a
number of countries. As is true of the more academic literature, the impact of this work
on the performance of national public procurement systems has not been well
documented, in the sense that the country procurement assessment reports tend to focus
primarily on legal compliancewhether laws and required procedures have been
38
implemented and procurement acts, rules, regulations, are complied with by the
stakeholders.
There is some literature available that talks about the contribution of eprocurement on different aspects of the good governance separately or in part. There are
also differences in defining the good governance in public procurement sector. Most of
the scholars and researchers have limited the definition of good governance (Grindle,
2010). It is found that similar conclusions are drawn in more recent literature as well.
Without much consideration countries are adopting the same line of thoughts while
defining the e-procurement strategy or in the implementation of the e-procurement
systems. Research and findings cover a wide range of good governance aspects: Eprocurement can add service value and increase cost savings to the government (Casaki
& Gelleri, 2005; Iqbal & Seo, 2008; Rai, Tang, Brown, & Keil, 2006); E-procurement
can improve transparency and governance change business practice and encourage new
suppliers/vendors to participate in public procurement (Harris & Rajora, 2006); Eprocurement is an effective system which achieves good governance in procurement and
limits political interference (Heywood, 2002); The face-to-face interaction between
government and bidding community can encourage favoritism and bribery in
procurement (Hui et al., 2011); E-procurement highly emphasize on the automatic
enforcement of regulations and reduces the face-to-face interaction and hence prevents
abuse and fraud (Rotchanakitumnuai, 2010); and so on.
The researcher reviewed the body of works in e-procurement that proves the
claim of this researcher that e-procurement is still treated just as one of the tools for
mainstream good governance in public procurement sector, which means the full
39
potential of e-procurement system is still not leveraged by the governments around the
world.
A review of the existing literature showed that e-procurement in the countries
implemented following adequate planning produced increased strategic and competitive
advantages while at the same time contributing to the good governance and also saving
millions of dollars in public procurement and operational costs. Additionally, the
literature reviewed in e-procurement implementation discussed different success factors
at the macro level. Implementation approach plays significant role in the success of e-GP
system. Deise, Nowikow, King, and Wright (2000) supported the implementation of an eprocurement system covering complete procurement cycle for achieving benefits from
the e-procurement system. However, there is no literature, which discusses and analyzes
the perception of the integrated comprehensive role of e-GP to enhance the good
governance in public procurement in a true and measurable sense. Ngambi and Brown
(2004) also agreed with Suchman (1977) that in social research, no event has a single
cause and each event has multiple effects. No single factor is a necessary and sufficient
cause of any other factor (Ngambi & Brown, 2004).
As stated by Carlson and ONeal-McElrath (2008), research and evaluation
determine the impact, effectiveness, and efficiency of any program, in this case the
implementation of an e-GP system as one of the instruments for establishing good
governance in the public procurement sector. The Australian Government Department of
Finance (n.d.) asserted from its experience in implementing e-procurement system that by
communicating e-procurement objectives and strategy and understanding suppliers
concerns, it is possible to ensure suppliers continued support. Getting stakeholders to
40
participate can be difficult, especially if they do not understand the value of the
implementation to themselves and their functional area.
The outcomes of the study will impact the overall perspective on the e-GP
implementation by the governments by highlighting and informing user of the importance
of focusing on the different aspects of good governance, rather than minimally focusing
on transparency, or efficiency, or saving costs and one or two aspects.
According to a study by Hidayanto et al. (2012) on e-GP implementation impacts,
the transparency factor of e-procurements is expected to reduce corruption in government
projects, in an effort to achieve good corporate governance. The study by Hidayanto et al.
further concluded that the implementation of e-procurement had significant impacts on
the total cost of acquisitions, organizational characteristics, governance structure,
presourcing business processes, and procurement quotations.
The outcome of this study reveals a change in behavior and attitude towards the eGP system implementation by addressing gaps in different aspects of governance e-GP
implementation to meet the fundamental requirements of good governance. As stated by
Carlson and ONeal-McElrath (2008), research and evaluation determine the impact,
effectiveness, and efficiency of any program, in this case the implementation of an e-GP
system as one of the instruments for establishing good governance in the public
procurement sector. Enhancing good governance in public procurement sector through
the effective use of e-procurement system has been appreciated by most of the countries
using e-procurement system (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development,
n.d.). In addition to the perception assessment, the action research questions in this
research were intended to assess the opinion of the participants regarding the adequacy of
41
measures taken in the design and implementation of e-GP systems based on the best
practices in different countries. A few of the questions are designed to assess whether the
e-GP system is in compliance with the Public Procurement Act and Public Procurement
Regulations of the country chosen for this research. The findings of the evaluation
provide input for the public procurement regulatory and monitoring agency to allow them
to calibrate the existing approach of implementing e-GP system as well as provide a
comprehensive e-GP system implementation framework for the countries in the process
of implementing e-GP systems for enhancing good governance in public procurement.
The bidding community appreciates e-procurement when it reduces complex data
entry procedure, validates the data as it is entered by improving data quality, standardizes
and streamlines their work, makes the procurement processes transparent, treats equally
to all bidders, and provides provision of debriefing the reason of failure to win the
contracts, and the access to e-procurement system is hassle free. The Australian
Government Department of Finance (n.d.) asserted from its experience in implementing
e-procurement system that by communicating e-procurement objectives and strategy and
understanding suppliers concerns, it is possible to ensure suppliers continued support.
Getting stakeholders to participate can be difficult, especially if they do not understand
the value of the implementation to themselves and their functional area. This action
research also revealed that there is considerable need to communicate the utilization of an
e-GP system to enhance the good governance in public procurement to the stakeholders.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (2005) indicated
that the e-awareness amongst the government employees and their willingness to
embrace change shall play a key role in the whole process.
42
The action research aspect of the research will improve current practice through
the application of findings generated by the utilization-focused evaluation (Patton,
2012a). Action research has been described as a form of community-based research
focusing on a participatory method of investigation (Stringer, 2007). Determining
whether the program theory will precipitate change through knowledge acquisition,
which will generate behavior and attitude change will be the focus of the utilizationfocused evaluation. Both components of the research, the theory of change model and
action research will provide the stakeholders with the opportunity to work together to
determine not only the programs design and planning, but also program implementation
and evaluation in terms of expected measurable outcomes, whether immediate,
intermediate, or long-term (Kaufman et al., 2006).
In this research, the technology acceptance model, diffusion of innovations
theory, and e-government theory are applied to model the constructs. Saidi and Yared
(2002) asserted in support of e-government theory that e-government, as a major
instrument for achieving good governance, accompanying important investment in
media, information, and communication technologies can be an important source of
productivity growth and economic growth along with economic development and
democracy. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (2006a), in
its study of country system in e-procurement in Italy, North Africa, and Egypt, asserted
that the e-government, of which e-procurement is an integral part, is one of the most
valuable information-and-communications-technologies-based administrative innovation
reforms; it can render public policy more effective, efficient and responsive to social and
political needs. It can provide a framework for organizing comprehensive e-reform,
43
starting with government and the public sector. In this study, it was assessed what
contribution of this technological innovation and diffusion bring to enhance good
governance in the public procurement sector.
For the conceptual framework, the diffusion of innovations theory also plays
significant importance, which was developed by a sociologist to explain how an
innovation diffuses through a society (Rogers, 2003). It has been used extensively to
explain the adoption of information technology innovations in an organization or society
(L. Carter & Blanger, 2005). Innovation is an idea, a practice, or object that is
perceived as new by an individual or another unit of adoption (Rogers, 2003, p. 229),
and diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain
channels over time among the members of a social system (Rogers, 2003, p. 229). The
rate of diffusion of innovation is affected by five attributes (Rogers, 2003): relative
advantage (the degree to which an innovation is perceived as better than the idea it
supersedes [p. 229]), compatibility (the degree to which an innovation is perceived as
consistent with the existing values, past experiences, and needs of potential adopter [p.
229]), complexity (the degree to which an innovation is perceived as relatively difficult
to understand and to use [p. 229]), triability (the degree to which an innovation may be
experimented with on a limited basis [p. 229]), and observability (the degree to which
the results of an innovation are visible to others [p. 229]). These characteristics are key
influences on adoption behavior (Agarwal & Prasad, 1997).
In the case of statistical analysis, Cheng and Wang (2006) stated that the Kaiser
MeyerOlkin measure of sampling adequacy is an index for comparing the magnitudes of
the observed correlation coefficients to the magnitudes of the partial correlation
44
coefficients. The authors suggest that large values for the KaiserMeyerOlkin measure
indicate that a factor analysis of the variables is a good idea. Another indicator of the
strength of the relationship among variables is Bartletts test of sphericity. Foulger (1979)
argued that there is no meaning of rejecting the null hypothesis, if the observed
significance level very small. In addition to the KaiserMeyerOlkin and Bartletts test,
other factor analysis results considered for each construct were the total variance tables,
component matrices tables, and commonalities tables.
45
CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY
Action Research Evaluation Approach
A utilization-focused evaluation (U-FE) approach was used for this action
research as it provides a well-suited framework (Patton, 2012a) for carrying out the
research and analysis in which people in the real world apply evaluation findings and
experiences to their work. According to Ramirez and Broadhead (2013), U-FE
evaluators facilitate a learning process with attention to how real people in the real world
might apply evaluation findings and experiences. In designing a U-FE, the attention is
constantly on the intended use by intended users (p. 1). As the action is the only way to
generate and test new social science knowledge, the evaluation findings in participation
of intended users will be prepared as the classified recommendations for use.
The U-FE framework (see Figure 3) covers 17 steps outlined by Patton (2012a).
This action research project adopted 15 steps in a 17-step process to find solutions or to
make recommendations to the implementing agency for the best utility of the eprocurement system contributing to enhance the good governance in procurement sector.
Step 16, Follow-up with the users to facilitate use, and Step 17, Utilization-focused metaevaluation, are left for the future research. The study analyzed the implementation of eprocurement system in one of the developing countries addressing different dimensions
of good governance. Initially, perception about the role of the e-procurement in public
procurement good governance and their attitude towards its use were assessed and
46
47
The document review was carried out which consisted of records of the registered
bidders, procuring entities, and oversight agencies in e-procurement system, reports from
earlier studies on e-procurement readiness assessment, procurement management
48
19
information system reports, e-procurement system usage statistical analytics, and reports
of Transparency International. Assessment of stakeholder readiness was taken place
through their formal approval from the key leaders (agency officers, procuring entities
representatives, bidders, and oversight agencies) for the participation in the evaluation.
The value of the evaluation was clearly communicated to the stakeholders. This
commitment was assured with the introductory letter sent to the stakeholders, which
described the purpose of the research, including the need for consistency in participation
throughout the project. As suggested in Ramirez and Broadhead (2013), the following
aspects were ensured in Step 1:
A clear commitment to the exercise by the leadership and primary users (staff)
to allocate their time to the work
public procuring entities (in some countries, they are called contracting authorities) who
spend public money, the bidding community (suppliers and contractors, also called
economic operators in some countries), and regulatory/oversight agencies.
Step 4: Conduct situation analysis. Situational analysis was conducted jointly
with primary intended users. According to Ramirez and Broadhead (2013), evaluation
use is people and context dependent. Use is likely to be enhanced when the evaluation
takes into account and is adapted to specific situational and organizational factors (p.
32). A focused, intentional, and systematic situational analysis calls for ensuring the
primary intended users understanding of the program, appreciating stakeholders
interests and potential areas of conflict, understanding the prior history and experiences
with evaluation, and making explicit the decision context that will affect use of decisions
and evaluation findings. The analysis may help by identifying and examining factors that
may contribute to use and those that may be barriers (Patton, 2012a). The researcher
identified barriers and limitations, such as time, funding, and potential stakeholder
turnover; and maintain flexibility in order to adapt to systems changes, if and when they
occur.
Steps 5 through 8: Step 5Identification of primary intended uses; Step 6
Focusing the evaluation design; Step 7Evaluation design; and Step 8Check the
adequacy of evaluation inquiry being addressed. The researcher worked with the
stakeholders to help determine and clarify the primary purpose of the U-FE and how the
results/recommendations can be implemented. This was done through communication
and interviews with the primary users. The researcher guided the stakeholders through
50
the process with the goal of increasing their knowledge, skills, and sense of ownership of
the e-procurement program.
The researcher allowed the stakeholders to decide on the direction of the
questions to be asked, without evaluator bias or influence. Finally, the researcher
established the evaluability assessment to meet credibility, relevance, and validity
requirements by creating outcomes evaluation in terms of the program. Questions asked
included (a) Is the program ready for evaluation? (b) Have the goals of the program been
metthat is, do the stakeholders and users have the measurable skills for using eprocurement system? (c) How have the stakeholders been changed by the study? (d) Are
there any unanticipated outcomes from the program and the study? (e) Are best practices
being followed? and (f) How are those defined?
Tests for establishing construct validity (through using multiple sources of
evidence), internal validity (using pattern matching and logic models), and external
validity (using theory), and reliability (using focus groups discussions) were also carried
out. The researcher used multiple sources of evidence from the data, interviews of
stakeholders through questionnaires and focus groups and feedback. Use of theoretical
frameworks (as described previously) and literature reviews assisted in establishing
external validity. In summary, this stage involved
Evaluating progress
Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Bank, Asian Development Bank,
and other development agencies. In focus group protocol (Johnson & Christensen, 2008),
initial questions were general, followed by more specific open-ended questions.
Information from research literature were widely used and included.
Think: Interpreting and Analyzing
Step 14: Data presented for user engagement. The researcher presented data in
a usable format for the stakeholders by organizing the findings by tables, graphics, theme,
distinguishing facts from opinion, and establishing coding methods to maintain
anonymity of responses as well as ethical standards. In other words, data were
categorized and coded, and emerging themes were identified. This occurred by
comparing units of information (obtained through data collection), triangulating the data
through focus group discussion, and looking for recurring regularities (Merriam, 1998).
These categories reflected the purpose of the research, were exhaustive, mutually
exclusive, sensitizing and conceptually congruent (Merriam, 1998). The number of
categories was determined by the focus of the research.
The facilitator actively involved the stakeholders in triangulating the data to
facilitate data interpretation. This process involved setting meeting with the public
procurement regulatory and monitoring agency officers and identified converging as well
as diverging perspectives; and to interpreted and analyzed the data in order to complete
this cycle of the study. Recommendations for using the findings were created bearing in
mind relevance to the purpose of the study, as well as actions that are within the control
and influence of the stakeholders (Patton, 2012a).
53
evaluation, which will focus on the changes that occurred as a result of the program
(Fitzpatrick, Sanders, & Worthen, 2011), will assess whether the governance situation in
the procurement process changed, and delivery of service improved. Outcome indicators
to measure the success of the program will be assessed through procurement performance
indicators analyzed from the e-procurement statistical analytics, reports from
procurement management information system, study, review, and evaluation reports.
The primary purpose of the meta-evaluation will be to demonstrate utility,
feasibility and accuracy of the U-FE and case study of the impact of e-procurement
system implementation on good governance. The primary intended users of the metaevaluation will be the legislators, development partners, oversight agencies and policy
makers of the country who influence funding as well as future implementation of eprocurement systems in different countries, the public procurement regulatory and
monitoring agency and procuring entities who use the e-procurement system for
streamlining their procurement processes addressing the requirements of good
governance, and bidding communities (suppliers and contractors of goods, works, and
services), citizens and civil society who are impacted by the service delivery through the
use of e-procurement system. At the core of the U-FE is to provide primary intended
users with information about the program in order to reduce uncertainty of their actions
and increase their control (Morgan, 1996).
Research Design
This section presents a description of the design of this research, the methodology
that was utilized, the target population that was included, the instrumentation that was
55
implemented, how the data were collected and analyzed, and the ethical considerations
related to this research.
The findings, results, discussions, and conclusions of this research are based on
the convergent parallel mixed method approach. Both qualitative and quantitative data
collected are analyzed in order to compare results. Both types of data formats were used
in order to provide strength to the research in terms of validity and credibility. Surveys
provide quantitative data, which was then compared with the qualitative data obtained
from focus groups interviews.
The rationale for using the convergent parallel mixed method design for the
project evaluation is to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the program from both
sets of data through simultaneous comparison and interpretation. According to Patton
(2012b), U-FE is inherently participatory and collaborative in actively involving primary
intended users in all aspects of the evaluation. The participant-oriented strategy employed
using the framework of the convergent parallel mixed method approach during the data
analysis and evaluation phases.
The evaluation involved the stakeholders who examined the data from both
quantitative and qualitative sources in order to compare and triangulate the information
for accuracy and credibility. Stufflebeams (1999) checklist was used to serve as a
blueprint for evaluation. Evaluation methods based on these factors included
Three focus group discussion with bidding community, procuring entities, and
regulatory/oversight agencies (qualitative)
56
No participants were used in the analysis for which parental permission was
required.
Sample
Participants in the target population included the personnel from the three key
stakeholder groups. Each one of these participants had significant role to impact on the
good governance in public procurement. Surveying the entire population would be
difficult, if not possible to perform. However, noted statisticians Cooper and Schindler
(2008) argued that research quality is often better by using sampling versus the entire
population. Additionally, sampling is done at a lower cost and has a quicker turnaround
time.
The sample size not only was determined by the population size but also was
dependent on the specific context of the research site selected. The country in which this
research is conducted is in early stage of e-procurement implementation and the user base
is still limited. There are three key user groups of e-procurement systems (see Figure 4).
57
59
At first, a consultation meeting was held with the officers of the public
procurement regulatory and monitoring agency of the research site country as part of the
U-FE Step 7 (evaluation design) to conduct a field test to help ensure the questions are
rightly phrased, wording was clarified, Public Procurement Act and Public Procurement
Regulations requirements are covered, international best practices are covered along with
the removal or rewording of ambiguous statements and that fully supports the intended
study.
Next, a focus group discussion interview guide was designed for conducting focus
group discussions with the three separate groups. The focus group discussion interview
60
guide protocol consisted of the ground rules for the discussion as well as the guiding key
questions for driving focus group discussions to validate the participants reasoning
behind their views expressed through the perception survey responses, as well as to
understand how the ideas and opinions in case of good governance in public procurement
through e-procurement consolidates in the course of discussion. The site was identified,
taken approval, and the survey and the interview guide were approved by the Capella
University Institutional Review Board before engaging with participants.
Data Collection
The data were collected using the survey questionnaire designed covering the
seven dimensions of good governance in public procurement sector. The Likert range
was Strongly disagree, Disagree, Dont know, Agree, and Strongly agree, which equated
numerals from 1 to 5 respectively. The survey questionnaire was sent to 67 respondents
under three groups of e-procurement users (i.e., public entities, bidders, and
regulatory/oversight agencies) through e-mail as well as hand-delivered. The responses to
the survey questionnaire were received through e-mails as well as in-person handreturned. Among them, 35 responses were from the public entity users, 12 responses from
bidders, and 6 responses from the regulatory/oversight agency users were received. This
provided a response rate of 79%.
The data collected through the questionnaire for all the seven dimensions of good
governance in public procurement through e-procurement was analyzed using measures
of central tendency which included the most common measures of mode, median, and the
mean (Bernard, 2000). Each individual response was collected and coded in Microsoft
61
Excel file. Identity of the respondents was made anonymous just using the respondent
codes.
Next, three focus group discussions with the three separate groups were
conducted to validate the participants reasoning behind their views expressed in
perception questionnaire survey, as well as to understand how the ideas and opinions in
case of good governance in public procurement through e-procurement consolidates in
the course of discussion. Candid opinions expressed on each of the dimensions of good
governance in relation to the use of e-procurement and its role were captured to validate
the survey responses. A total of 19 people participated in the three focus groups.
Data Analysis
Data were collected using Likert scales for the quantitative data analysis. Based
on the statistical literature review and advice of experts, Cronbachs alpha for ensuring
reliability and factor analysis for validity were done by the KaiserMeyerOlkin measure
of sampling adequacy test and Bartletts test of sphericity tests. Additionally both the
Friedman chi-square test and the chi-square goodness-of-fit test for nonparametric
samples were used during hypothesis testing. These tests were considered appropriate for
discrete distributions or when the distribution is not known ahead of time. Garson (2006)
stated that a nonparametric test by using the chi-square test ascertains significance if the
sample size is large enough. When there different arguments on the appropriate size
required for testing hypothesis, Garson also recommended that at the significance level of
.05, a minimum of 50 samples are necessary in order to conduct proper hypothesis
testing. This research collected 53 samples in order to be more conservative and more
robust in the data analysis section.
62
These data were then analyzed using measures of central tendency, which
included the most common measures of mode, median, and the mean (Bernard, 2000),
factor analysis. Many literatures recommended using an analysis of variance test when
there are three or more groups for comparison. The two-way analysis of variance test was
conducted in order to determine if the research questions and the underlying hypotheses
stated were supported or not supported as well as to see the significance of the
interactions between dimensions (constructs or factors). These tests were conducted on
sample data collected under with seven constructs supported by 70 nonparametric
questions from three groups of e-procurement users of public entities, bidders, and
regulatory/oversight agencies involved in both procurement transactions and eprocurement system management. As the research model is based on multiple dependent
variables (dimensions of good governance) and independent variable divided into three
groups of users, a general linear-model-based multivariate analysis of variance was
carried out to look for an effect of one or more independent variables (user groups) on
these dependent variables at the same time (Cook, 2010).
The exact number of registered public agencies, and bidders was known from the
e-procurement system database, and the regulatory/oversight agencies were identified in
discussion with the public procurement regulatory and monitoring agency during U-FE
preparation discussions and situational analysis activity.
The responses to the survey questionnaire were received through e-mails as well
as in-person hand-returned. Among them, 35 responses were from the public entity users,
12 responses from bidders, and 6 responses from the regulatory/oversight agency users
were received. Eight out of 43 public entity users, 1 out of 7 regulatory/oversight agency
63
user, and 6 out of 17 bidders did not provide their responses. As such, 35 public entity
respondents would represent a sampling of 40.22% of the population, 12 bidder
respondents would represent a sampling of 15% of the population, and 6
regulatory/oversight respondents would represent a sampling of 85%, a reasonably
adequate and acceptable sample, especially when using nonparametric statistical
sampling (Cooper & Schindler, 2008).
The sample data were tested using chi-square goodness-for-fit. This is a
nonparametric statistical inference test that can be used in tests involving nominal data
such as a Likert-scale survey (Cooper & Schindler, 2008). It allows the researcher to test
differences between observed distribution of data and the expected distribution based on
the null hypothesis (Cooper & Schindler, 2008, p. 484). Based on the number of
dimension (factors) of good governance through e-procurement, the observed number of
cases in each factor of the Likert-scale survey, and the expected number of cases of the
factors based on the null hypothesis, the researcher will be able to reject or fail to reject
each one of the null hypotheses, using a .05 level of significance.
Reliability and Validity
In order for the collected data to be useful for statistical analysis and inferences,
the data must meet tests of validity and reliability (Russ-Eft, 1980). Validity demonstrates
the degree to which the instrument actually measures that which it is intended to measure
(Russ-Eft, 1980). Furthermore, a survey instrument that is reliable can be expected to
achieve consistent results when used repeatedly.
Validity can be further broken down into two types: external validity, which
explains how well the data can be generalized over differing situations; and internal
64
validity, which answers the question of how well the instrument measure what it is
intended to measure (Cooper & Schindler, 2008). In order to ensure both the validity and
reliability of the research, a field test was conducted using a small group of individuals
who represented the target population in coordination with the research site agency. The
researcher screened the questions for vague and misleading language, as well as testing
and screening for vague terminology and poorly formed construct statements. Next, the
results were tested using factor analysis and Cronbachs alpha to help ensure validity and
reliability of the survey instrument.
Ethical Considerations
Ethical considerations surrounding the use of any survey instrument that involves
the use of human subjects are not only an important part of ensuring external validity of
the research but also an essential part of ensuring that the research is conducted in a way
that protects these subjects from any harmful consequences. Important aspects of these
ethical considerations are ensuring that survey participants understand the voluntary
nature of the survey, are willing participants of the survey through the use of acceptable
informed consent practices, are assured of complete anonymity during the survey
process, and finally can be assured that no personal information will be collected which
could be used to identify them or attach them to the survey in ways that would be harmful
to the survey participants (Cooper & Schindler, 2008).
Before this survey was conducted, the questions were vetted. The primary ethical
considerations included the principles of informed consent of the individual and
reasonable protection of the individual from harm during any research involving human
participants (Fowler, 2002). The cover page of each survey contained information
65
regarding privacy protections and informed consent. Reasonable procedures were used in
this research to insure both of these principals were met. The survey did not ask for any
data that could possibly be used to identify the subject. A full disclaimer appeared on the
cover page of the survey questionnaire explained that participation in the research was
voluntary, along with the fact that there were no demographic data fields that could
reveal specific personal attributes of the participant.
The research site is the regulatory/oversight agency in public procurement, which
also owns and operates the national e-procurement system. One of the international
development banks has provided a grant to the government to strengthen the public
procurement reform through the development and implementation of the e-procurement
system. The international development bank for the project hired the researcher as an
international advisor on e-procurement. The researchers participation is limited in the
mission meetings with the research site officers, and also different meetings to review the
project progress. Because of this relationship, the researcher is familiar with some of the
e-procurement-project-related officials but there was no conflict of interest because the
researcher drew research data from an outside review of the project.
This research analyzes the implementation of the e-procurement system in the
research site country on dimensions of good governance by measuring the users
perception of the role of e-procurement, and their attitude towards its process and
operation. The professional relationship between the researcher and the participants does
not pose any bias, as the research analyzes outside perceptions of the new e-procurement
system by outsiders, not the participants that the researcher was advising.
66
There are three separate groups of respondents participating in the research, and
the researcher took clear measures to ensure there is no influence or bias in bringing them
into the research and evaluation. The survey administration tool used by the researcher
was designed to guarantee total anonymity of the survey participants. The survey and the
data collection tool were designed to hide any identifying features that could have
allowed the researcher to identify any specific personal identification of the survey
participants. The respondents participating in the research were treated with fairness,
respect and confidentiality. The professional relationship did not pose any risks to the
respondents, as the researcher did not posses any financial or other kinds of influence
upon the respondents. Data collected from the respondents are removed of all identifying
information. The confidentiality of the personal information, if any, of the participants
are separately maintained in an electronic file and each of the respondents are assigned a
code number. Only the code number was used to identify the related group, and for the
analysis of the responses. Respondents were all nonnative English speakers. English is
not a native language in the research site country but English is the second common
language. Translation services were not required for any of the respondents.
67
CHAPTER 4. RESULTS
Site Description
The government of the research site has initiated governance reform program in
various areas for effective public service delivery. Among others, public procurement is
one of the prime areas of reform of the government. As a part of this reform agenda, the
government has issued the Public Procurement Act and Public Procurement Regulations
to make the public procurement system transparent, fair, competitive and efficient. These
two legislations aim to maximize good governance through an effective and efficient
public procurement by equal competition among bidders, fairness, accountability and
reliability in public procurement processes. Also, as mandated by the act, public
procurement regulatory and monitoring agency was established. The overriding objective
of the agency is to implement the act effectively as well as to deliver efficiency and
value-for-money in the use of public funds adhering to the principles of public
procurement.
The public procurement regulatory and monitoring agency is implementing a
National Portal of e-GP System as a unitary platform for the procurements of goods,
works and services for all the public entities in line with the Public Procurement Act and
Public Procurement Regulations. The first phase of e-government procurement (e-GP)
system was designed to facilitate the bidder to prepare an annual procurement plan,
prepare bidding document, download bidding documents, prepare bids, and submit bids.
68
The second phase of e-GP system also has already been started with new functions and
incorporating the feedback and recommendations from the stakeholders based on the
experience of the first phase of implementation. The second phase also incorporated most
of the recommendations based on the findings from this action research. Use of e-GP
system is intended to increase transparency, nondiscrimination, equality of access, and
open competition. Pilot implementation of e-GP started in April 2013. The e-GP site also
provides easy to use Internet access for tender information, information on award of
contracts.
One of the international development banks is supporting the e-GP
implementation introduced under the Strengthening Public Management Program.
Research Methodology Applied to Data Collection and Analysis
The following research questions were asked:
1. Has the use of e-procurement system or e-government procurement system in
public procurement enhanced the good governance in public procurement
sector?
2. Does e-procurement add value to public procurement? If e-procurement
increases (a) transparency; (b) accountability; (c) corruption control; (d)
efficiency, effectiveness, and predictability; (e) easy access; (f) rule of law
and equity; and (g) civil society awareness, then it is worth the investment.
With the increased trend of using e-procurement systems across the world by
government, proponents of the e-procurement, including Hidayanto et al. (2012), claim
that e-procurement plays a significant role in enhancing good governance facilitating
different aspects of good governance by the leverage of the Internet technology and
underlying best practice procurement processes, functions and its governance framework.
This study explored those claims.
69
Many procurement processes are not automated, which does not really reduce
the administrative efforts but adds additional burden to procuring entities.
data received are reliable. The dimension Easy Access scored the lowest value ( =
0.640) and the dimension Accountability scored the highest value ( = 0.910).
Sum of
variance of all
questions
(var)
Transparency
24
27.442
115.114
0.795
Accountability
15
20.301
134.625
0.910
Corruption Control
5.470
13.972
0.811
8.648
27.821
0.788
Easy Access
10.664
24.259
0.640
3.814
9.385
0.692
4.717
11.182
0.771
Dimension
Variance of
score totals
(var)
Cronbachs
alpha value
()
Validity Analysis
Validity of the survey instrument is as important as reliability for the best
outcome from the study. Factor analysis was used to test the validity of the instrument by
identifying the interactions between the variables within the survey instrument. Although
final elimination of the questions can be a subjective process, factor analysis provides
important clues as to the validity of the questions in each construct (Cooper & Schindler,
2008).
There is no concrete formula for defining the adequacy of the samples, and one
can find many debates among academics about the adequate sample size to be used for
73
conducting factor analysis. Several early studies stressed the need for a minimum sample
number; however, later studies demonstrate that it is possible to conduct exploratory
factor analysis with small sample sizes (De Winter, Dodou, & Wieringa, 2009).
Additionally, Field (2000) showed that as long as the ratio of observations to variables is
at least 15, the results of exploratory factor analysis could be considered valid. Kaiser and
Rice (1974) recommended that KaiserMeyerOlkin (KMO) measure should be
minimum 0.5 and values over 0.9 are excellent. In the survey study, 53 responses were
collected for each question; hence, the criterion of a minimum of 15 responses to each
question was met for the study. The KMO was used to measure the sampling adequacy
and Bartletts test of sphericity was used to test the null hypothesis that the variables in
the population correlation matrix were uncorrelated (Garca-Santilln, Chvez, BoggeroCorrea, & Vela-Aguilar, 2012). These two tests determine whether one can perform
further factor analysis on a particular construct (Walker & Madden, 2009). It is
concluded that the strength of the relationship among variables is strong. It is a good idea
to proceed with a factor analysis for the data.
In addition to the KMO measure and Bartletts test, other factor analysis results
considered for each construct were the total variance tables, the component matrices
tables, and the commonalities tables. For specific statistical results regarding validity and
reliability tests for each construct, please refer to Appendix B.
Validity and Reliability for the Constructs
Transparency. The KMO test for the Transparency construct had a value of
0.471, which is less than acceptable value of 0.5. The level of significance in Bartletts
test of sphericity result was only 0.000, which is not absolutely not significant. Based on
74
the argument of Foulger (1979), the researcher decided to accept the null hypothesis and
proceed for the further factor analysis. Additionally, the initial reliability test for the
transparency construct showed the significant internal reliability at the acceptable level of
Cronbachs alpha = .795. Upon inspection of the questions, it appeared that when asked
together, the last question about the procurements adherence to the annual procurement
plan was redundant. As the research was more interested, in this particular construct, in
determining if the e-procurement system significantly contributes to enhance
transparency of procurement processes and information in public procurement, the
question could have been extracted from the list to enhance the Cronbachs alpha and
improve the overall reliability.
For the Transparency construct, using the principal component analysis factor
extraction method and examining total variance explained, component matrix, and
communalities tables provided the basis for deciding that all the questions in this
construct could be correlated to the first eight factors (questions). The total variance
explained indicated that 73.405% of the total variance could be explained by the first
eight questions of the construct, as each of the eigenvalues for these questions are greater
than 1. Each one of these component questions remains in the survey. Additionally, the
component matrix demonstrated that all of the questions correlated well to at least one
other question in the construct. Finally, the communalities values showed the extracted
values for each question in the construct to be well over the required .45 level considered
minimally acceptable (Walker & Madden, 2009).
Accountability. The KMO measure and the Bartletts test for the Accountability
construct showed that further factor analysis was possible for this construct. The KMO
75
measure was .819 much above the minimum .5 required for sampling adequacy whereas
the significance level resulting .000 of the Bartletts test of sphericity showed the
accountability construct could be seen as a correlation matrix, indicating that further
factor analysis would be possible.
For the Accountability construct, using the principal component analysis factor
extraction method and examining total variance explained, component matrix, and
communalities tables provided the basis for deciding that all the questions in this
construct could be correlated to the first three factors (questions). The total variance
explained indicated that 70.046% of the total variance could be explained by the first
three questions of the construct, as each of the eigenvalues for these questions are greater
than 1. Each one of these component questions remained in the survey. Additionally, the
component matrix demonstrated that all of the questions correlated well to at least one
other question in the construct. Finally, the communalities values showed the extracted
values for each question in the construct to be well over the required .45 level considered
minimally acceptable (Walker & Madden, 2009).
The Accountability construct showed a highly acceptable level of reliability, with
a Cronbachs alpha of 0.910. All the questions were fit for the final survey. No further
improvement of Cronbachs alpha was required.
Corruption Control. The KMO measure and Bartletts test for the Corruption
Control construct showed that further factor analysis was possible for this construct. The
KMO measure was .748 above the minimum .5 required for sampling adequacy, whereas
the significance level resulting .000 of the Bartletts test of sphericity showed the
76
Corruption Control construct could be seen as a correlation matrix, indicating that further
factor analysis would be possible.
For the Corruption Control construct, using the principal component analysis
factor extraction method and examining total variance explained, component matrix, and
communalities tables provided the basis for deciding that all the questions in this
construct could be correlated to the first factor (question). The total variance explained
indicated that 65.783% of the total variance could be explained by the first question of
the construct, as the eigenvalue for the question is greater than 1. Each one of these
component questions remained in the survey. Additionally, the component matrix
demonstrated that all of the questions correlated well to at least one other question in the
construct.
Finally, the communalities values showed the extracted values for each question
in the construct were well over the required level of .45 except for the first question. The
extracted value for the first question was .429 marginally below the required level of .45.
Communality shows how much of the variance in the variables has been accounted for by
the extracted factors. For instance, 82.8% of the variance in response to the survey
question about the list of debarred/suspended bidders being publicly listed and
automatically verifying the winning bidder against the debarred/suspended bidders
database is accounted for, whereas 42.9% of the variance in response to the survey
question about the e-procurement-system-based bidding requiring
suppliers/contractors/procurement personnel to submit or testify that they have not been
involved in corrupt activities in the past is accounted for.
77
Predictability construct. The extracted measure for the question about the enhancing of
efficiency and effectiveness in public procurement process was .484 and the extracted
measure for the question about ensuring the value-for-money was .404. Because the
questions were important for assessing the perception of the users and the overall validity
and reliability of the construct were acceptable, the questions remained in the survey
questionnaire.
The initial reliability statistics for the initial two survey questions about the
availability of evaluation and contract management modules and adequacy of authority
given to public entity users indicated an unacceptably low level of reliability of .788 for
the entire construct. However, the reliability of the entire Efficiency, Effectiveness, and
Predictability construct could have been improved considerably if those two questions
were removed or elaborated more. When the entire construct was looked at holistically,
the question about value-for-money could have been misunderstood, as thus so far, the
value-for-money in procurements is not taken so seriously.
Easy Access. The KMO measure and Bartletts test for the Easy Access construct
showed that further factor analysis was possible for this construct. The KMO measure
was .633 above the minimum .5 required for sampling adequacy and the significance
level of Bartletts test of sphericity showed .000 and the Easy Access construct could be
seen as a correlation matrix, indicating that further factor analysis would be possible.
Using the principal component analysis factor extraction method and examining
the total variance explained, component matrix, and commonalities tables for the Rule of
Law and Equity construct, it was determined that all the questions in this construct could
be correlated to the first three factors (questions) in this construct. The total variance
79
explained for this construct showed that 63.853% of the total variance could be explained
by the first three questions of the construct, with these eigenvalues all being greater than
1. These three components remained in the survey. Additionally, the component matrix
showed all of the questions correlated well to at least one other question in the construct.
Although the communalities values showed the extracted values for each question
in the construct to be well over the required .45 level considered minimally acceptable
(Walker & Madden, 2009), there were two questions that did not perfectly correlate to the
extracted factors as well as the other questions in the Easy Access construct. The
extracted measure for the question about the bid document reuse was .597 and the
extracted measure for the question about bid preparation using online forms was .588.
Although both of these measures were above the generally accepted value of .45, they
were both significantly below the extracted scores of all of the other questions.
Upon further examination of these two questions in the group discussions, it was
identified that neither of these questions were available in the e-procurement system so
far. The questions were not removed from the survey, as these questions were important
for assessing the perception on the international best practices.
The initial reliability statistics for the Easy Access construct indicated an
acceptable level of reliability of .640 for the entire construct. However, the reliability of
the entire Easy Access construct could be improved considerably if the questions about
bid document reuse and bid preparation using online forms were removed.
Rule of Law and Equity. The KMO measure and Bartletts test for the Rule of
Law and Equity construct showed that further factor analysis was possible for this
construct. The KMO measure was .637 above the minimum .5 required for sampling
80
adequacy and the significance level of Bartletts test of sphericity showed .000 and the
Rule of Law and Equity construct could be seen as a correlation matrix, indicating that
further factor analysis would be possible.
Using the principal component analysis factor extraction method and examining
the total variance explained, component matrix, and commonalities tables for the Rule of
Law and Equity construct, it was determined that all the questions in this construct could
be correlated to the first two factors (questions) in this construct. The total variance
explained for this construct showed that 54.473% of the total variance could be explained
by the first two questions of the construct, with these eigenvalues all being greater than 1.
These two components remained in the survey. Additionally, the component matrix
showed all of the questions correlated well to at least one other question in the construct.
Although the communalities values showed the extracted values for each question
in the construct to be well over the required .45 level considered minimally acceptable
(Walker & Madden, 2009), there were two questions below the needed level. The
extracted measure for Question 4 about enhancing the citizen trust was .409, and
Question 7 about ensuring equal opportunity for all biddersdomestic or international,
small or large, and from cities or remote villageswas .364. Although both of these
measures were above the generally accepted value of .45, they were both significantly
below the extracted scores of all of the other questions.
Upon further examination of these two questions in the group discussions, it was
identified that neither of these questions were easy to answer. In case of enhancing trust
by e-procurement, all of three groups of stakeholders believe positively but it is too early
to correctly respond to this question. In case of Question 7, although procuring entities
81
82
1. The component remained in the survey. Additionally, the component matrix showed
all of the questions correlated well to at least one other question in the construct.
Although the communalities values showed the extracted values for each question
in the construct to be well over the required .45 level considered minimally acceptable
(Walker & Madden, 2009), the first question was significantly below the needed level.
The extracted measure for the first question about the adequacy of the information
published by the procuring entities was .007. Upon further examination of the first
question in the group discussions, it was identified that the procuring entities were seen
reluctant to disclose adequate information for the general public as the procuring entities
are still not sure how much information to disclose to the general public. There is still no
policy and information classification system in the country for such information
disclosure. The question was not removed from the survey, as the question was important
for assessing the perception on the information disclosure on public procurement by
public entities to the civil society through the use of e-procurement system.
The initial reliability statistics for the Civil Society Awareness construct indicated
an acceptable level of reliability of .771 for the entire construct. However, the reliability
of the entire Civil Society Awareness construct could be improved considerably if the
question about information disclosure was clarified upfront.
The good governance construct results are summarized in Table 2.
83
Bartletts test
of sphericity
Cronbachs
alpha value ()
Transparency
0.471
0.000
0.795
Accountability
0.819
0.000
0.910
Corruption Control
0.748
0.000
0.811
0.828
0.000
0.788
Easy Access
0.633
0.000
0.640
0.637
0.000
0.692
0.752
0.000
0.771
Construct
Data Collection
The survey questionnaire was designed, tested and finalized initially up to Step 8
of the utilization-focused evaluation (Patton, 2012a). After revision of the questionnaire,
67 participants were recruited from public entities, bidders, and regulatory/oversight
agencies. Among them, 35 responses were received from the public entity users, 11
responses from bidders, and 6 responses from the regulatory/oversight agency users were
received within 12 weeks. Fifteen participants did not return the responses. The
hypothesis testing that the e-procurement system contributes to enhance good governance
in public procurement was accomplished through the responses of 52 participants.
Analysis: Demographics of Survey Participants
The questionnaire was sent to a total of 67 participants. In total 52 respondents
from the three groups of respondent, public entities, bidders, and regulatory/oversight
agencies completed the questionnaire. The respondent profile is presented in Table 3.
84
Respondent
1
27
24
0
1.92%
51.92%
46.15%
0.00%
6
35
11
11.54%
67.31%
21.15%
23
22
5
2
44.23%
42.31%
9.62%
3.85%
5
12
11
24
9.62%
23.08%
21.15%
46.15%
Over 66% of the 52 respondents were from 14 public entities, 22.64% of the
respondents were from private firms, and two regulatory/oversight agencies using eprocurement system.
Over 9% of the respondents were using e-procurement system for more than 5
years either in their own organizational level or using the national e-procurement system,
over 43% of the respondents have been using e-procurement system for the last 25
years, and over 43% of the respondents are new using for less than 2 years. Two
respondents from the oversight agencies were concerned with the e-procurement system,
but they do not use the system for their oversight purposes as of now, as the eprocurement system still does not provide such access for the oversight agencies.
85
the effectiveness of the variable in question (Laerd Statistics, n.d.). The composite null
hypothesis was that the e-procurement system does not significantly contribute to
enhance good governance in public procurement. As the hypothesis test shows Friedman
test (2 = 139.623, df = 6, sig. = .000) at the = 0.05 level of significance, there is
enough evidence to conclude that the e-procurement system significantly contributes to
enhance good governance in the public procurement sector.
As the study used a discrete ordinal, 5-point Likert scale with unknown
distributions of any of the variables and could not assume normality of the responses, chisquare tests (Friedman and goodness-of-fit tests) were used either to reject or fail to reject
the null hypothesis for each variable. Discussion of the results for each of these variables
and their constructs follows.
Data analysis tables for each variable and corresponding construct can be found in
Appendix C.
Survey Results
Transparency
The null hypothesis for this variable was defined, as the e-procurement system
does not significantly enhance transparency of procurement processes and information in
public procurement. Twenty-four questions were asked concerning the transparency in eprocurement that contributes good governance in the public procurement sector. The
study covered the questions to assess the perception and experience of the respondents in
the e-procurement system on the publishing of the Public Procurement Act and Public
Procurement Regulations, e-procurement guidelines, publication of annual procurement
plans, publication of bidding opportunities, disclosure of condition of participation,
87
Accountability
The null hypothesis for this variable was defined as the e-procurement system
does not significantly contribute to enhance accountability of the actions in public
procurement. Fifteen questions were asked concerning the accountability in eprocurement that contributes good governance in the public procurement sector. The
study covered the questions to assess the perception and experience of the respondents in
the e-procurement system on the provisions of the keeping records of approvals process
and approvers at different stages of procurement. In procurements, the records of
prequalification and postqualification of bidders, negotiation with them, details of
payments made and contract amendments are very crucial for the judgment of
accountability of the procurement officials. Equally important is the responsiveness of the
authorized public officers on timely handling complaints submitted by the bidders and
other decision making processes before contract awards and during the contract execution
time.
It was found that the respondents believe that the e-procurement strengthens the
accountability of the public officers through standard workflow process based on
incorporated authority in the e-procurement system. The Friedman test (2 = 195.092, df
= 6, sig. = .000) and chi-square test for the goodness-for-fit confirmed that the eprocurement contributes to enhance accountability in public procurement, as the test
rejected the null hypothesis on 14 out of 15 questions at the = 0.05 level of significance.
Fourteen questions reflected the respondents perception and experience that the eprocurement significantly contributes to accountability aspect of good governance.
89
contributes to enhance accountability in public procurement, as the test rejected the null
hypothesis of all the questions at the = 0.05 level of significance. Fourteen questions
reflected the respondents perception and experience that the e-procurement significantly
contributes to accountability aspect of good governance.
Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Predictability
The null hypothesis for this variable was defined as the e-procurement system
does not significantly contribute to enhance efficiency, effectiveness, and predictability
of procurement processes and information in public procurement. Eight questions were
asked concerning the efficiency, effectiveness, and predictability in e-procurement that
contributes good governance in the public procurement sector. The study covered the
questions to assess the perception and experience of the respondents in the e-procurement
system on the improvement in terms of effectiveness and effectiveness in procurement
process:
Ensures value-for-money
91
The Friedman test (2 = 61.423, df = 7, sig. = .000) and chi-square test for the
goodness-for-fit confirmed that e-procurement contributes to enhance accountability in
public procurement, as the test rejected the null hypothesis of all the questions at the =
0.05 level of significance. All eight questions reflected the respondents perception and
experience that the e-procurement significantly contributes to efficiency, effectiveness,
and predictability aspects of good governance.
Easy Access
The null hypothesis for this variable was defined as the e-procurement system
does not significantly contribute to enhance easy access to procurement processes and
information in public procurement. Eight questions were asked concerning the easy
access in e-procurement that contributes good governance in the public procurement
sector. The study covered the questions to assess the perception and experience of the
respondents in the e-procurement system in terms of browsing speed of e-procurement
system and Internet bandwidth consumption, time required for getting registered to use
the system, affordability of registration fee, availability of previewing the bidding dossier
free of cost before buying the document, reusability of bidding dossier and bid
documents, availability of online forms for bid offer preparation, and completeness of the
e-procurement system to complete above 70% of procurement cycle through the system
itself.
The Friedman test (2 = 99.792, df = 7, sig. = .000) and chi-square test for the
goodness-for-fit confirmed that the e-procurement contributes to enhance easy access to
procurement processes and information in public procurement, as the test rejected the
null hypothesis of all the questions at the = 0.05 level of significance. Eight questions
92
reflected the respondents perception and experience that the e-procurement significantly
contributes to easy access aspect of good governance.
Rule of Law and Equity
The null hypothesis for this variable was defined as the e-procurement system
does not significantly contribute to enhance the enforcement of the rule of law and equity
to all the bidders in public procurement.
Seven questions were asked concerning the rule of law and equal treatment to the
bidders in e-procurement that contributes good governance in the public procurement
sector. The study covered the questions to assess the perception and experience of the
respondents in the e-procurement system that helps in terms of
The Friedman test (2 = 35.992, df = 6, sig. = .000) and chi-square test for the
goodness-for-fit confirmed that the e-procurement contributes to enhance the
enforcement of the rule of law and providing equal treatment to all the bidders in public
93
procurement, as the test rejected the null hypothesis of all the questions at the = 0.05
level of significance.
Seven questions reflected the respondents perception and experience that the eprocurement significantly contributes to enhance the enforcement of rule of law and
equity aspects of good governance.
Civil Society Awareness
The null hypothesis for this variable was defined as the e-procurement system
does not significantly contribute to enhance the public procurement awareness about
public procurement. Four questions were asked concerning the provisions made in the eprocurement system that contributes good governance in the public procurement sector.
The study covered the questions to assess the perception and experience of the
respondents in the e-procurement system asking whether the information disclosed by the
public entities are adequate, whether public online discussion forum on public
procurement is available, whether e-procurement system provides provision of
independent access for review for auditing to auditing agencies such as the Office of
Auditor General and oversight agencies such as the National Vigilance Centre, the AntiCorruption Bureau, Parliament, and ombudsmen/mediators, and whether e-procurement
system informs the civil society about the government expenditure that help in terms of
enhancing civil society awareness so that it can play a role of watchdog.
The Friedman test (2 = 41.699, df = 3, sig. = .000) and chi-square test for the
goodness-for-fit confirmed that e-procurement contributes to enhance the civil society
awareness in public procurement, as the test rejected the null hypothesis of all the
questions at the = 0.05 level of significance. Four questions reflected the respondents
94
perception and experience that the e-procurement significantly contributes to enhance the
civil society awareness aspects of good governance.
Two-Way Analysis of Variance Test
These data were then analyzed using measures of central tendency, which
included the most common measures of mode, median, and the mean (Bernard, 2000),
factor analysis. A two-way analysis of variance test (see Table 4) was conducted in order
to determine if the research questions and the underlying hypotheses stated were
supported or not supported as well as to see the significance of the interactions between
dimensions (constructs or factors). These tests were conducted on sample data collected
under with seven constructs supported by 70 nonparametric questions from three groups
of e-procurement users of public entities, bidders, and regulatory/oversight agencies
involved in both procurement transactions and e-procurement system management. Table
4 values are not individual data points; they are all cell means with their own distribution.
In a two-way analysis of variance test, the way the distributions fit together is at
the very heart of the technique. Looking at the average mean data for each of the
stakeholder groups, it can be concluded that the stakeholders have similar perception
about the underlying hypothesis. The perception on the role of e-GP system in enhancing
the enforcement of the rule of law and create equal opportunities to the bidders scored the
highest support, and increasing efficiency, effectiveness, and predictability scored the
second. The Corruption Control dimension scored the least score as the e-GP improved
corruption control at certain stage but there are still other stages at which there is room
for improvement. All the stakeholders perceive that the transparency and easy access to
procurement information and bidding opportunities are well taken care by e-GP system.
95
Public entity
Regulatory/
oversight agency
Transparency
3.31
3.48
3.17
3.32
Accountability
2.74
2.79
2.82
2.78
Corruption Control
2.64
2.42
2.80
2.62
3.30
3.85
3.78
3.64
Easy Access
3.00
3.21
3.58
3.26
4.02
4.14
3.86
4.01
2.57
2.38
3.14
2.69
Average mean
3.08
3.18
3.31
3.19
Bidder Dimension
Then, the marginal means values from Table 4 were plotted in a graph to see the
interactions between the dimensions (see Figure 6).
An interaction occurs when effect of one factor changes for different levels of the
other factor. In this case, the perception of stakeholder groups changes across the
dimensions of the good governance. For example, bidder perception was good in the case
of Transparency; Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Predictability; Easy Access; and Rule of
Law and Equity but it was not good for Accountability and Corruption Control. The
perception the Civil Society Awareness dimension was moderate. If there was no
interaction, the perception of the bidder line would always be above the other stakeholder
user group lines, and lines would not cross. On the marginal means graph, as a general
rule, lines cross because factors change across the groups.
96
It is observed from the graph (see Figure 6) that three of the groups share the
same perception that there are interactions between the transparency and accountability.
Public entities and oversight regulatory agencies perceive that there is a relationship
between corruption control and efficiency, effectiveness, and predictability. Bidders and
Regulatory/oversight agencies believe that easy access to the information have significant
role on efficiency, effectiveness and predictability. Three of the focus groups perceive
that the e-procurement system is highly effective to enhance the rule of law and
competition among the bidders providing equal access to all. Regulatory/oversight
97
agencies and bidders are more optimistic on that the e-procurement system enhances the
civil society awareness.
Focus Group Discussions
As a part of the research design, three focus group discussions were held with the
participants from the public entities, bidders, and regulatory/oversight agencies separately
after the preliminary analysis of the questionnaire survey, to validate and deepen the
understanding of the findings of the quantitative analysis, and establish the concluding
hypothesis of the study.
Focus groups are particularly useful when participants reasoning behind their
views is of interest, as well as the process by which participants develop and influence
each others ideas and opinions in the course of discussion. Guidelines provided in the
Steyaert and Lisoir (2005) indicated that the focus groups are useful to gauge the nature
and intensity of stakeholders concerns and values about the issues, obtain a snapshot of
public opinion when time constraints or finances do not allow a full review or survey
obtain input from individuals as well as interest groups, obtain detailed reaction and input
from a stakeholder or client group to preliminary proposals or options collect information
on the needs of stakeholders surrounding a particular issue or concept, and determine
what additional information or modification may be needed to develop consultation
issues or proposals further (p. 131).
A set of guiding key questions was prepared for the discussions. Opinion, issues,
feedback, concerns, and suggestions were noted in each of the discussions. Sequence of
discussion was agreed by the participant to follow question by question and by theme
(aspects) of good governance. Full consideration was taken to understand the levels of
98
knowledge or different attitudes that may be relevant to the research and reflect on the
expected generalizability to the population at large (Steyaert & Lisoir, 2005). During the
discussion, themes were categorized into two categories, Perceptions and
Recommendations, for each of the constructs. And the perceptions and recommendations
for different themes that emerged from discussion were lumped when a consensus was
made in the group. Because the focus group discussion was carried out in small groups,
interaction was intense, and productive. Opinion of the participants and findings
deepened the understanding of why the survey scores were like they were, and in some
cases the discussion made clear why some cases that showed the outliers. The number of
voices really did not matter.
A total of 19 people participated in the three focus groups, 10 from public
procuring entities, five bidders, and four from the regulatory/oversight agencies.
Participants candidly put forward their perceptions, experience and suggestions during
the focus group discussion.
Transparency
Public entities. The public entities concluded that the transparency does not mean
to disclose everything. There should be clear policy on the disclosure of the information
to support the principles of the procurement and enhance good governance in the public
procurement sector. The transparency policy for the e-procurement should be prepared
based on the country context following the international best practices.
The participants noted that making the annual procurement plan and publishing
contract award information mandatory in the e-procurement portal was a good decision,
but preparation and adherence to the plan could be very difficult. The difficulty arises in
99
matching the time of the preparation and approval of annual budget by the Ministry of
Finance, preparation of the annual procurement plan, and the publication of invitation to
bids. The annual procurement plan in the e-procurement portal gives prior knowledge to
the general public as well as the bidders about the planned procurements for the fiscal
year, and gives information on how and where the public fund is being spent. The bidders
will have opportunity to plan upfront their resources, capacity and management planning.
A few of the participants also expressed that an estimated budget also could be
published to reduce the problem of low bidding. The low bidding is the bid by the bidders
quoting very low just to win the contract. Issues like low quality of work, abandoning the
contract in the middle of the execution, and abusing the mobilization funds are rampant
because of low bidding. The participants suggested including the price index (schedule of
rate) of the common procurement items in the e-procurement system, which gives the
reference for the bidders, as well as public entities can take as a basis for preparing an
official estimate for the procurement.
In relation to the invitation to bids, the participants suggested that the eprocurement system should not allow to public invitation to bids until the budget is
secured for that specific procurement. In the current version of the e-procurement system,
bid-opening records are not shared with the bidders and bidders do not get to know the
status of bids until contract is awarded. Also there is no online public discussion forum in
the e-procurement for asking about, sharing about, and clarifying the procurement-related
issues. The participants mentioned that there is no option for debriefing in e-procurement
system, but expressed that it would be good to have in the system so that the bidders
100
failed to win the contract will get to their weaknesses and improve in next bidding
process.
Bidders. The participants expressed that the public procurement has been more
transparency with the introduction of e-procurement system. They are happy that the
annual procurement plan and the invitation to bids by the public procuring entities using
e-procurement system. The participants think that the information on eligibility and
qualification criteria also should be published in the invitation to bids, and those criteria
should not be allowed to modify after publishing the invitation to bids. The participants
requested to publish the bid opening records as soon as the bids are opened. They think
that the information published on contract awards is not adequate. It does not tell on what
basis the contract was awarded or who the competitors were. They believe if those details
are published then the bidders could understand their merits and weaknesses and will be
able to prepare better bids next time. The participants suggested that the e-procurement
system should automatically send the notes of prebid conference, and clarifications to
bidding document to all the bidders timely. The participants also suggested publishing the
best evaluated bidders with their scores, and debriefing should be available.
Regulatory/oversight agencies. The participants expressed that the public
procurement has been more transparency with the introduction of e-procurement system
in the country complying with the regulatory framework and Rights to Information Act.
Publication of annual procurement plan was not mandatory so far in practice before the
introduction of e-procurement.
The public procurement regulatory and monitoring agency informed that the eprocurement system is going to be interfaced with the treasury and budget planning
101
software of the Ministry of Finance, so that e-procurement system can easily verify the
availability of budget for the procurement, confirm the approved procurement plans, and
reconcile with the payments made to the contractors. The participants agreed that bid
opening records, and detailed contract award information should be published. The
participants mentioned that publishing the eligibility and qualifying criteria should be
possible and it should be considered in the next version of the e-procurement system. The
participants also agreed that based on the international best practices, debriefing of the
contract awards should be given if the bidder requests for that. The regulatory/oversight
agency participants agreed that the complaints and their review decisions should be made
transparent.
All the participants fully agreed that the e-procurement system has significantly
enhanced the transparency in public procurement. Additionally the participants provided
feedback to improve or provide new functionalities like debriefing, online public
discussion forums, publishing list of best evaluated bidders, and complaints and their
review decisions, which will ensure the transparency as well as good practice in public
procurement.
Accountability
Public entities. The participants felt that the accountability in the procurement
has been enhanced through the introduction of e-procurement system, as the system
keeps track of activities of the procurement officers from login to logout in the system.
They also agreed that there are provisions to be considered by the regulatory and
monitoring agency as asked in the questionnaire survey to include in the e-procurement
system. For example, e-procurement system does not ask for signing any code of conduct
102
103
Bidders. The participants argue that the public entity officials are not adequately
given authority to make decisions. The participants suggested that the public entity
officials could be made more accountable by giving appropriate authority, defining
timeline for actions, rewards for accomplishments and punishment or room for
improvement should be provisioned, and those should be built in to the e-procurement
system. The workflow process is in the e-procurement system but should be linked with
their threshold of approving authority and given mandates or roles. In case of bidders
accountability, it is good that all the activities of the bidders are also recorded by the eprocurement system, which makes the bidders feel accountable to their actions and they
cannot repudiate their actions.
Regulatory/oversight agencies. The participants expressed their satisfaction on
that the e-procurement system is based on workflow, and all the activities of the public
officers and bidders, as well as the users of the regulatory and monitoring agency are
recorded. The accountability of the actions are enhanced as the transactions and persons
doing the transactions could be tracked and investigated if required. The participants
suggested that the role-based authority given by the government to the public officers for
the procurement should be built in to in the e-procurement system and also suggested to
incorporate robust contract management system in the e-procurement system.
The participants suggested that if the quality assurance, payments, contract
variations, role-based authority of officers defined, complaint and dispute managements
are incorporated in the e-procurement system, it will drastically enhance the
accountability and good governance in public procurement.
104
Corruption Control
Public entities. The participants agree that the corruption control in the
procurement has been significantly enhanced through the introduction of e-procurement
system. Corruption is a vague phenomenon, which is rampant in different stages of the
procurement life cycle. The participants fully agree that face-to-face interaction should be
completely stopped in e-procurement system to minimize the corruption in procurements.
All of the participants agree that a regular phenomenon of clash among the bidders on the
last day of bid submission preventing each other from dropping bid documents is
completely stopped because of the e-procurement. Internal control in the public entity on
procurement also has been increased because the e-procurement system records all the
activities. Currently, there are at least one to two moments when bidders have face-toface contact with the procuring entity even in case of using e-procurement system. The
first event is based on the provisions made in the existing Public Procurement
Regulations. Bidders are supposed to submit the original copy of bid security to the
procuring entity to ensure the commitment of the bidders in the specific tender. The
second event is when the procuring entity may request the bidder to submit the hardcopy
of the bid, which was submitted online through the e-procurement system, if the bidder is
among the significantly responsive bidders. At the time of hardcopy submission, public
entities come to know who has submitted bids online, and that information may be passed
to other bidders, and from there a collusive act may start. The participants suggested to
stop the requirement of parallel submission of bids online and hardcopy as well as to find
the ways to receive bid securities electronically.
105
Bidders. The participants expressed that the corruption at the prebid submission
stage of procurement has been controlled because of the online availability of bidding
documents, and online submission of the bids. The bidders admitted that in many cases
corruption from the time of bid security submission and contract signing to contract
completion are still not controlled. The participants suggested that there should be an
easy way to submit bid securities, and hardcopy submission of bids should be completely
stopped. They also admitted that there is no strict control mechanism for the quality
assurance, payments, expenditures, and site monitoring. The e-procurement system
should address these recommendations by automating all the activities including the
submission of bid securities, and all information required to complete a bidding process.
The e-procurement system can provide greater control by developing a comprehensive econtract management system, linking with the quality control, payments and expenditure
tracking mechanism in the Ministry of Finance. The participants expressed that there may
be resistance from the public entities side to implement the contract management system;
however, it will be very helpful for the contractors.
Regulatory/oversight agencies. The participants agreed that the process-based
corruption control is significantly enhanced but it is difficult to control the corrupt
activities happening outside the e-procurement system. In many cases, contractors also
abuse payments made for the mobilization of the contracts by not utilizing the received
fund for that contract but investing it somewhere else. The e-procurement system should
have effective tools to track and control the payment, fund expenditure by the contractor
and outcome of that, and linkage with the delivery milestones. The regulatory/oversight
agency participants asserted that the incidences of fights among bidders at the time of bid
106
submission are not recorded so far since the introduction of e-procurement system. The
participants also agree that e-procurement has reduced collusion among bidders and
procuring entities by providing information about tenders to firms, allowing noncartel
firms to participate and breaking up local bidding cartels. E-procurement can also
potentially mitigate corruption by reducing the degree to which government officials
selectively withhold information or refuse to take bids from nonfavored bidders.
The participants believe that when all the processes of procurement are automated
and incorporated in the e-procurement system, corruption control can be sustained and
can significantly enhance the good governance.
Effectiveness, Efficiency, and Predictability
Public entities. The first important factor for efficiency gain is that any bidder
can now access the government procurement opportunities from a single e-procurement
portal. Bidders can prepare their bids online and submit the bid at their own pace online
till the deadline of online submission time. The one clear finding here was that the
requirement of parallel submission both online bid and hardcopy bids should be
completely stopped, and allow only online submission. This has created a redundancy in
the public entities requiring additional resources to verify the information in the bids
submitted online and offline.
Standard bidding document templates for the procurement of goods and services
are available as web forms, so it is easier to prepare the bidding documents, and it has
drastically reduced the bid document preparation time. There is built-in workflow for the
approval process, so the time for administrative processing also has been reduced, and
predictability of the procurement and contract processes has been increased. The
107
participants believe that cost reduction in the unit rates of the items are observed but that
should be carefully calculated over the time. Sometimes, because of the low bidding, the
public entities are facing problem in contract execution time. The participants also
requested to link the bid submission and evaluation function with the database of
blacklisted or suspended contractors and suppliers for verification. The e-procurement
system should have provisions of generating ad hoc reports on specific projects,
expenses, bid securities and performance guarantees validity tracking, forfeiture, release
and extension, and so on. The participants believe that if the contractor appraisal is tied
with the contract closure, it will help enhance the effectiveness. The e-procurement
should not end its scope just after a contract is awarded. It was suggested to develop a
comprehensive project management tool to achieve the significant enhancement in
efficiency, effectiveness, and predictability.
The participants agree that the mandatory requirement of publishing annual
procurement plan, standardization of the bidding document and forms, availability of the
administrative workflow has enhanced the efficiency, effectiveness, and predictability in
procurement processes.
Bidders. The participants in the focus group discussion expressed that the bid
securities and performance guarantees submission should be made simple, so that the bid
submission process will be efficient for the bidders. Currently, the bid securities are
submitted in hardcopy within 35 days of bid opening. The participants agreed that the
efficiency and effectiveness has been enhanced because of online bid document
preparation and submission. Predictability is enhanced because of the availability of the
annual procurement plans.
108
regulatory and monitoring agency itself in the current version of the e-procurement
system. The participants suggested improving on the consistency of web pages in terms
of content identity, font, and access links to functionalities.
Bidders. The participants praised the provision of free registration of the bidders
and also availability of downloading bidding documents without any cost. The
participants requested to build facility to send Short Message Service alerts along with
the e-mails to the bidders from the e-procurement system when any new procurement
opportunity of interest to the specific category of bidders is published in the eprocurement portal. There should be a provision to indicate the area of business or their
interested business areas at the time of registration in the e-procurement system. This will
be useful and effective for the bidders to enhance access to procurement information. The
Short Message Service alert will encourage the small and big contractors to participate in
the government procurements based on their capacity.
Regulatory/oversight agencies. The e-procurement system still does not provide
dedicated content access to the regulatory/oversight agencies. It was recommended to
give access to the regulatory/oversight agencies on the reports on compliance and
performance tracking, as well as audit trail records of the transactions on case-by-case
basis.
The participants believe that the easy access to the procurement processes and
information have been significantly enhanced through the introduction of e-procurement
system. The participants suggested to enable Short-Message-Service-based automated
alert to the bidders on the new bidding opportunities in the e-procurement system. The
participants also suggested improving on the consistency of web pages in terms of
110
content identity, font and access links to functionalities. It was recommended to provide
regulatory/oversight agencies access to the reports and also transactions audit trails for
the investigation of the specific cases.
Rule of Law and Equity
Public entities. The participants believe that the compliance with the Public
Procurement Act and Public Procurement Regulations, and also equal treatment to the
bidders have been significantly improved, as the e-procurement system is configured
according to the requirements of the act, regulations, and government directives,
provisions of which are automatically verified by the system at every stage of transaction.
Procurement workflows are configured based on the administrative authority and paperbased standard bidding documents are reengineered and built in to in the e-procurement
system, ensuring the standardized procurement processes and documentations. Bid
submission has been easier as the system does not allow submitting the bids until the
bidders submit all the requested documents, which in turn support to increase the
responsiveness of the submitted bids. Bidders are treated equal, as the status of the
bidders remains anonymous to the procuring entity until the time of bid opening. The
participants suggested making the feature of automatic verification of contract approval
thresholds for different officers assigned for different roles in the workflow, so that the
chance of making mistake to approve any transaction beyond their authority could be
checked. It was discussed also on the issue of authenticity of the electronic transactions.
Despite having electronic transaction act in the country, the participants raised the
concerns that all the legal, technical and other provisions should be documented in the
form of e-procurement guidelines with the endorsement from the Ministry of Finance or
111
Cabinet of Ministers to give a legal status of the procurements carried out through the
electronic medium. This may enhance the citizen trust on e-procurement as well.
Bidders. The participants agreed that the compliance with the requirements of the
procurement has been very easy, as the e-procurement system does not allow to submit
the bids until the requirements are fulfilled. The e-procurement can now ensure the
compliance even for those who are not aware about the Public Procurement Act and
Public Procurement Regulations. The participants expressed that there should be easy
way to submit complaints in the e-procurement system. They also expressed that there
should be e-procurement manuals to follow the right rules in case of e-procurements.
Regulatory/oversight agencies. It has been easier for the regulatory/oversight
agencies also because of the streamlined process and standardization of documents in
compliance with the Public Procurement Act and Public Procurement Regulations. The
participants agreed that there should be e-procurement guidelines with adequate legal
status to ensure the authenticity of the practices and transactions carried out through the
e-procurement system.
The participants in the three of the focus groups believe that the rule of law and
equity in procurements have been significantly enhanced through the introduction of eprocurement system through the incorporation of standardized procurement processes,
workflow with administrative authority, and automated compliance checking by the eprocurement system. The participants recommended making public e-procurement
guidelines to give authenticity to the electronic procurement transactions. They also
recommended that the contract approval threshold of the official in the procuring entity
should also be available in the workflow process.
112
113
114
115
116
No mandatory requirement to ensure availability of budgetThe eprocurement system lacks the verification instrument to ensure the availability
of budget before publishing invitation to bid. It points to the fact that the
planning process is weak, and challenges the effective execution of the
contracts. Any procurements should be planned upfront with adequate budget
assurance from the Ministry of Finance. Automated verification with the
financial management system in Ministry of Finance will address this
problem.
118
annual procurement plan; (c) Add function to controls bid price at the time of
bid submission, if the bid is substantially low. Permissible minimum offer can
be set in the system, but for this regulatory and monitoring agency should
work out on the reliable price reference to be used for preparing the estimate
of the procurements; (d) Increase the weight substantially in quality criteria,
giving less weight to price in evaluating the bids; and (e) Introduce supplier
appraisal and make it public. This approach makes bidders more responsible
to their bids, and contract execution.
The public procurement regulatory and monitoring agency should review the
feedback and recommendations provided by the respondents through survey results and
focus group discussions as well as considering the international best practices in eprocurement implementation, and implement in its subsequent updates and releases of the
e-procurement system implementation.
Although the stakeholder respondents fully agreed that the e-procurement system
has significantly enhanced the transparency in public procurement, further research and
policy level decisions are needed while incorporating and implementing these feedback
and recommendations. The public procurement regulatory and monitoring agency is
recommended to work with the e-procurement policy and implementation experts with
the engagement of all key stakeholders.
120
Accountability
The survey analysis rejected the null hypothesis that the e-procurement system
does not significantly contribute to enhance accountability of the actions in public
procurement. A further analysis into each question of the construct for accountability
revealed a very strong consensus about the significance of e-procurement system
contributing to good governance.
Although the null hypothesis on accountability was rejected and it was assumed
that there were perception, knowledge and adequate attitude towards the fundamental
requirements of the good governance in terms of accountability, examination into the
individual questions in this construct revealed that, in many cases, this knowledge was
incorrect and inadequate. Some of those gaps and challenges identified through the
research are discussed as follows:
focus group discussions, which puts the accountability aspect challenged if the
challenge is not addressed. The challenge engendered by different factors: (a)
The authorized officer is not confident using e-procurement system due to the
lack of computer skills; (b) The administrative process is based on commandcontrol model, in which the high-level officers do not execute themselves but
give instructions to the lower level staffs; (c) The management of public
procuring entities perceive that the use e-procurement is the function of
information technology professionals and not the mainstream function of
procurement management; and (d) The change management process and
business process reengineering were not at all carried out or not adequately
carried out.
It is recommended that a comprehensive change management plan with
clear objectives, target group, activities and messages to be conveyed should
be prepared, and capacitate the users in the new environment updating their
perception, knowledge, attitude, and leveraging the potential of e-procurement
in a real sense.
and they recognize important attributes of accountability, the perception, knowledge and
attitude towards the scope and spread of the accountability was somehow incomplete, so
further research is necessary to strengthen the nature and role of actors in the
accountability process.
Corruption Control
The survey analysis rejected the null hypothesis that the e-procurement system
does not significantly contribute to enhance corruption control of the actions in public
procurement. A further analysis into each question of the construct for corruption control
revealed a very strong affirmation about the significance of e-procurement system
contributing to good governance.
Although the null hypothesis on corruption control was rejected, and it was
assumed that there were perception, knowledge and adequate attitude towards the
fundamental requirements of the good governance in terms of corruption control,
examination into the individual questions in this construct and focus group discussions
revealed that, in many cases, the corrupt attitude was still rampant, and there are many
areas in which the e-procurement system should be upgraded incorporating measures for
corruption control. Some of the key findings and their implications and recommendations
are discussed as follows:
124
The positive side of the e-procurement system is that it has enhanced the internal
control of the activities of the procuring entities in some degree by automatically
recording all the activities of the users carried out through the e-procurement system.
Although the respondents and participants indicated that they fully agree the eprocurement system has significantly enhanced the corruption control in public
procurement, and they recognize that corruption is happening beyond the e-procurement
system as the system does not have control over the activities outside. Ethical aspects of
the procurement process can only be addressed through self-declaration by both the
public officers and bidders of their noninvolvement in any kind of fraud and corruptive
activities in and outside the e-procurement system. Innovative ways of developing
functions for corruption control could be explored and incorporated in the future versions
of the e-procurement system.
Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Predictability
The survey analysis rejected the null hypothesis that the e-procurement system
does not significantly contribute to enhance efficiency, effectiveness, and predictability
of procurement processes and information in public procurement. A further analysis into
each question of the construct for efficiency, effectiveness, and predictability revealed a
126
Absence of evaluation and contract management moduleBecause the eprocurement system still did not have evaluation and contract management
127
Lack of system knowledgeSome of the features are still not used because of
lack of knowledge. One of such good features available is the facility for the
public procuring entities to prepare the bidding document using the already
used bidding documents, which could minimize the time for bidding
document preparation. Another feature is that the procuring entities can
prepare the bidding documents and schedule date for publishing invitation to
bids, not requiring to wait till the scheduled time in the annual procurement
plan to prepare the different sections of the bidding document (i.e.,
specifications, evaluation criteria, other supplementary details).
128
130
Rule of Law and Equity revealed a very strong consensus about the significance of eprocurement system contributing to good governance.
It was observed that the respondents and participants perceived the most
significant role of e-GP was to ensure the rule of law and promote the equal treatment to
the bidders. Some of the findings, implications, and recommendations are discussed as
follows:
E-GP guidelines for enforcing rule of lawIn absence of the e-GP guidelines,
there are numerous ambiguities in case of enforcing the procurement acts and
regulations in case of e-procurement system. The process and practices in the
manual and electronic environments differ a lot, and those differences should
be clearly communicated to the stakeholders.
Despite a lack of many options for engaging civil society in public procurement,
the respondents and participants appreciated the existing level of information disclosure,
which were not at all accessible in traditional method of procurements.
133
The research concludes that the awareness about the public procurement in
general public has been significantly improved, because of the increased transparency
measures provisioned in the e-procurement system.
Implementation and Incorporation of Action Research Outcomes
The advantage of action research following utilization-focused evaluation is the
realization of outcomes into real-life actions during the evaluation process (Patton,
2012a). The outcome of the project and the utilization-focused evaluations enabled the
public procurement regulatory and monitoring agency and other intended users to
improve the implementation and use of e-procurement system by designing an
intervention to create change (Patton, 2012a, p. 57). According to Ramirez and
Broadhead (2013), [utilization-focused evaluation] evaluators facilitate a learning
process with attention to how real people in the real world might apply evaluation
findings and experiences. In designing a utilization-focused evaluation, the attention is
constantly on the intended use by intended users (p. 1). As the action is the only way to
generate and test new social science knowledge, the evaluation findings in participation
of intended users were prepared as the classified recommendations for use. The public
procurement regulatory and monitoring agency has prioritized the research evaluation
recommendations under Strategic and Operational categories, so that the use of findings
becomes more manageable. Most of the recommendations have been implemented in the
rollout version of the second phase of e-procurement implementations in the country. The
following recommendations have already been incorporated or are in the process of being
incorporated in the second phase of the e-procurement system:
134
The agency has already initiated a process to amend the Public Procurement
Regulations to allow only electronic submission of bids in case of
procurements through the e-procurement system. It will stop the
inconsistencies seen because of online- and paper-based hardcopy parallel bid
submission on the first phase of the e-procurement system implementation.
Available solution for collecting payments for the bidding document purchase,
issuance and management of bid securities and guarantees through banking
channel.
135
These are the examples of how the action research recommendations contributed
to change in the behavior and attitudes of the public organizations and stakeholders at the
practical level as well, through a collaborative process with the researcher and the
intended users as they work within focus groups to evaluate the programs resources,
gather data, evaluate findings, and execute the recommendations (Patton, 2012a, p. 154).
Conclusions
This research was intended to assess perception, attitude, and knowledge of the eGP users on the role of the e-procurement system in enhancing different dimensions of
good governance in the public procurement sector as well as the adequacy of measures
taken in the design and implementation of the e-GP system based on the best practices in
different countries. This action research appears to show that public procurement sector
stakeholders do consider e-GP plays very significant role in enhancing good governance
in the public procurement sector. The outcome of the study reveals a change in behavior
and attitude towards the e-GP system implementation by addressing gaps in different
aspects of governance e-GP implementation to meet the fundamental requirements of
good governance. Their research evaluation reveals that the e-procurement system can
enable good governance. In addition to the perception assessment, the action research
questions in this research were intended to assess the opinion of the participants
136
regarding the adequacy of measures taken in the design and implementation of e-GP
systems based on the best practices in different countries.
The findings of the evaluation provided input for the public procurement
regulatory and monitoring agency to allow calibrating the existing approach of
implementing e-GP system as well as provide a comprehensive e-GP system
implementation framework for the countries in the process of implementing e-GP
systems for enhancing good governance in public procurement.
The bidding community appreciates e-procurement when it reduces complex data
entry procedure, validates the data as it is entered by improving data quality, standardizes
and streamlines their work, makes the procurement processes transparent, treats equally
to all bidders, and provides provision of debriefing the reason of failure to win the
contracts, and the access to e-procurement system is hassle free. This action research also
revealed that there is considerable need to communicate the utilization of e-GP system to
enhance the good governance in public procurement to the stakeholders. As indicated by
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (2005), the eawareness amongst the government employees and their willingness to embrace change
shall play a key role in the whole process.
However, an evaluation of specific questions asked in the areas of transparency,
accountability, corruption control, efficiency, effectiveness, and predictability, easy
access, rule of law and equity, and civil society awareness led to the conclusion that there
are already many necessary aspects for good governance in public procurement sector
exist and can be incorporated within the e-procurement system. When viewed from the
experience from many other countries for the introduction of e-procurement systems, the
137
system implemented in the first phase in the country is still at an immature level and
inconsistently implemented, but provides important lessons to the world.
Nevertheless, based on responses about the role of e-procurement system in
enhancing different seven aspects of the good governance, further research may show
that functions, tools, processes and practices in terms of aspects of good governance
could well be improved. It is also obvious that the resultant data on perception, attitude
and knowledge could be different if the e-procurement system implementation is assessed
after few years.
Although there were significant levels of perception, attitude, and knowledge
about role of e-procurement systems to enhance different aspects of good governance,
respondents to the survey questionnaire and participants in the focus group discussions
exhibited some confusion about the specific roles and functions as well as pointed several
deficiencies in the existing version of e-procurement system. More specifically, the
research showed that the strategic nature of good governance is often confused with the
more tactical and operational aspects of e-procurement system management. It was
observed that all key aspects of good governance were not taken as a strategic-level
agenda for the public procurement through the e-procurement system, yet these aspects
orchestrated together only may impact as the key tenets of good governance in public
procurement sector.
It was quite intentional that questions about all aspects of good governance were
asked in the same questionnaire. Although detailed correlation of the variables is beyond
the scope of this current research, it appears that for the user of the e-GP system, there is
138
a real lack of opportunities for hands-on training, and awareness campaigns about the
aspects of good governance in the e-procurement system.
At the very least, it would appear that the stakeholders are optimistic about the
achievements so far from the e-procurement system, and look forward to its
improvements in the implementation of the next phase.
The research showed that there appeared to be several obstacles to implementing
e-procurement system. Again, a synthesis of several of these obstacles indicates that the
stakeholders appear to have much more of a tactical than a strategic focus. Despite many
scholar literatures recommend phased implementation of e-GP implementation as one of
the essential requirement for the success of e-GP system, it appeared from the research
that the phased approach of implementation e-procurement system without having
implemented complete set of key processes is not always favorable for achieving desired
target. If phase implementation is planned, the phase should be designed in such a way
that it demonstrates the effectiveness of implementation and integrity of the process of
procurements are maintained, not that it is phased to see if the system works or not, or
functions implemented are complete or not. Purpose of the implementation should be
clear at the design phase. Phasing is not effective if something is done electronically and
other functions of the process are done in manual system. In absence of fit-for-purpose
planning in phasing, actual benefit could not be achieved. One of the major challenges in
leveraging full potential of e-procurement system in the country is its continuity of
options accepting parallel submission of bids both in hardcopy as well as through eprocurement system for the same tender. Another challenge is the continuity of
requirements to submit hardcopy original bid security and other documents, which brings
139
bidders and procuring entities face-to-face, opening doors for potential corruption.
Another challenge is that the many procurement processes are still manual, which does
not really reduce the administrative efforts, but adds additional burden to procuring
entities.
This research asserts that the implementation of e-GP system significantly
enhance the good governance in public procurement sector, however it suggests that a
comprehensive and practical e-GP implementation framework is absent in the body of
knowledge on e-procurement. A comprehensive and practical e-GP implementation
framework has been designed and proposed (Appendix E) based on the research, best
practices around the world, and experience of the researcher in assisting governments
around the world in introducing and implementing e-GP systems. It is believed that the eGP implementation framework will provide a practical guidance to the countries
considering implementing e-procurement as a mean for public procurement reforms.
E-procurement implementation should take into consideration of integrated
approach to the good governance. Mere focus on one or two aspects of the good
governance does not bring significant changes in the public procurement sector, there are
always one or another aspects lagging behind and the sector does not achieve desired
objectives. The e-procurement system technology acceptance and adoption theory has
been widely studied in developed countries. However, it has not been studied in the site
country of this research. Thus, this study is unique to the country context. Further, the
study can be served as a starting point for other e-GP or e-procurement adoption
researches in other countries. Moreover, the study provides the public procurement
regulatory and monitoring agency of the country with the type of empirical analysis,
140
which is necessary for fostering adoption and usage of e-procurement system to enhance
the good governance in public procurement.
At the beginning of this research, the synthesized definition of e-government
procurement used for this dissertation was that e-procurement is operationally defined as
the collaborative utilization of information and communications technologies (especially
the Internet) by government agencies and other actors in procurement community in
conducting all activities of government procurement process cycle for the acquisition of
goods, works, and services enhancing good governance in public procurement (Shakya,
2012).
An e-GP system is improvised and defined as the collaborative use of information
and communications technologies by government agencies, bidding community,
regulatory, oversight agencies, other supporting service providers, and civil society in
conducting ethical procurement activities of the government procurement process cycle
for the procurement of goods, works and service, and management of contracts ensuring
good governance and value-for-money in public procurement, and contributing to the
socioeconomic development of country.
Limitations of the Study
The scope of the study does not cover the final two steps, 16 and 17, of the
utilization-focused evaluation, although Step 16 was assessed partially to confirm
whether the findings and recommendations of the study has been considered for the
improvement. As Step 16 should cover the follow-up with users to use and Step 17
should reassure the evaluation through the consequent meta-evaluation of the evaluation
itself, substantial interval of time is required to carry out the meaningful accomplishment
141
of these steps. Thorough evaluation of Steps 16 and 17 are intentionally left out for the
future study.
Although the overall findings of this research prove the significant role of e-GP in
enhancing good governance in public procurement sector, it has some limitations worth
mentioning. Although the initial target population of the study was intended to be more
bidders, the project running in different places of the country made difficult to get access
to them and getting responses to survey questions from all of the expected bidders.
Although the public procurement regulatory and monitoring agency in the host country of
this research is in preparation of starting the second phase of the e-GP system
implementation, another limitation is that the e-GP system currently running in the
country supports only limited functions of the complete government public procurement
cycle, so the responses to many questions related to the functions beyond bid opening are
fully based on the perception and knowledge of the bidders at the current stage.
Nevertheless, although the researcher believes the perceptions and knowledge of bidders
are sufficient to make this research valid, the absence of few of the functions of
procurement cycle is an acknowledged limitation that might have introduced a bias in the
results. The diverse geographical location of the surveyed public procuring entities may
also limit any wider application of this research.
As pointed out by the participants in this research, a great majority of the
interventions in the implementation of the e-GP system are tactical in nature rather than
strategically focused. Additionally, these public procurement entities face unique
challenges created by easy availability of Internet access and electricity that other
developed countries may not face.
142
The method of data collection and the ethical considerations were taken care to
avoid the bias and avoid the limitation of the validity of the results. Additionally,
although this type of research has been done only for the few of the dimensions of the
good governance in public procurement, and never done research on the role of e-GP on
enhancing the comprehensive aspects of the good governance, the research has been able
to ascertain that this has been the first survey ever accomplished assessing the role of the
e-GP system to enhance good governance in the public procurement sector. As such, in
order to ensure that the survey results are externally valid, this survey would have to be
administered even to like populations in other countries.
Recommendations for Further Research
This study sought out preliminary perceptions, attitudes, and knowledge about the
role of e-GP in enhancing good governance in the public procurement sector. It provided
many initial insights about the perceived state of good governance, role of e-GP, and the
e-GP implementation by the users actively working within the public procuring entities,
bidders, and regulatory/oversight agencies, insights, which when augmented by more
detailed research, may provide information that could lead to improvements in e-GP
system implementation in the host country of this research and perhaps in other countries
as well.
Although this information provided clues as to the nature and state of good
governance and role of e-GP in enhancing good governance in public procurement sector,
this research could be enhanced further if the public procurement regulatory and
monitoring agency of the research site country or the specific country government or the
international organizations and development partners like the World Bank, Asian
143
researcher believes that the e-GP implementation framework could prove to be of great
value to enhancing effective implementation of e-GP system to enhance good governance
in a real sense in the public procurement sector.
Summary
In terms of e-procurement implementation, it should take into consideration of
integrated approach to the good governance. Mere focus on one or two aspects of the
good governance does not bring significant changes in the public procurement sector,
there is always areas lagging behind and the sector does not achieve desired objectives.
The e-procurement system technology acceptance and adoption theory has been
widely studied in developed countries. However, and it has not been studied in the host
country of this research. Thus, this study is unique to the country context.
Lack of appropriate government policy on e-Procurement, adequate business
process reengineering of existing procurement processes, scoping of complete e-GP
system, not having comprehensive e-GP guidelines for the smooth implementation of the
e-GP system, fragmented efforts of implementations by individual public entities their
own e-bidding systems, and still having online- and hard-copy-based parallel submission
of bids are challenges in the successful implementation and adaption of e-GP system
enhancing good governance in the public procurement sector.
Further, the study and the proposed e-GP implementation framework can be
served as a starting point for other e-GP or e-procurement adoption researches in other
countries. Moreover, the study provides the public procurement regulatory and
monitoring agency of the research site country with the type of empirical analysis, which
is necessary for fostering adoption and usage of e-procurement system to enhance the
145
146
REFERENCES
Agarwal, R., & Prasad, J. (1997). The role of innovation characteristics and perceived
voluntariness in the acceptance of information technologies. Decision Sciences,
28(3), 557582. doi:10.1111/j.1540-5915.1997.tb01322.x
Al Moalla, A., & Li, D. (2010). Organizational issues with electronic government
procurement: A case study of the UAE. The Electronic Journal on Information in
Developing Countries, 41(3), 118. Retrieved from http://www.ejisdc.org/ojs2/
index.php/ejisdc/article/download/669/316
Ampratwum, E. F. (2008). The fight against corruption and its implications for
development in developing and transition economies. Journal of Money
Laundering Control, 11(1), 7687. doi:10.1108/13685200810844514
Ararat, M., & Ugur, M. (2003). Corporate governance in Turkey: An overview and some
policy recommendations. Corporate Governance, 3(1), 5875. doi:10.1108/
14720700310459863
Arrowsmith, S., Treumer, S., Fej, J., & Jiang, L. (n.d.). Public procurement regulation:
An introduction. Retrieved from http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/pprg/
documentsarchive/asialinkmaterials/publicprocurementregulationintroduction.pdf
Asia-Pacific Development Cooperation. (1999). Non-binding principles on government
Procurement. Paris, France: The Chair of the Government Procurement Experts
Group, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation.
Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, & World Bank. (2004).
Strategic electronic government procurement: Strategic planning guide.
Retrieved from http://www.unpcdc.org/media/2622/strategic%20electronic%20
government%20procurement%20-%20strategic%20planning%20guide.pdf
Asiimbwe, B. (2012, November 22). Unclear policies hinder e-procurement. New Vision.
Retrieved from http://www.newvision.co.ug/news/637497-unclear-policieshindering-e-procurement.html
Australian Government Department of Finance. (2014). Commonwealth procurement
rules: Achieving value for money. Retrieved from http://www.finance.gov.au/
sites/default/files/2014%20Commonwealth%20Procurement%20Rules.pdf
Australian Government Department of Finance. (n.d.). Strategic guide to e-procurement.
Retrieved from http://www.finance.gov.au/publications/strategic-guide-to-eprocurement/implementation.html
147
The Australian National Audit Office. (2010). Better practice guide on the strategic and
operational management of assets by public sector entities. Retrieved from
http://www.anao.gov.au/bpg_assets2010/HTML/index.html
Backus, M. (2001). E-government and developing countries: Introduction and examples.
Retrieved from http://www.iicd.org/about/publications/egovernance-anddeveloping-countries-introduction-and-examples/report3.pdf
Bedi, K., Singh, P. J., & Srivastava, S. (2001). Government@net: New governance
opportunities for India. New Delhi, India: Sage.
Bernard, H. R. (2000). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative
approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Callender, G., & Mathews, D. (2000). Government purchasing: An evolving profession?
Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting & Financial Management, 12(2), 272
290. Available from http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P3-57959566.html
Callender, G., & Schapper, P. (2003). Public procurement reform in Western Australia: A
federal-state evaluation. In L. Knight, C. Harland, J. Telgen, K. V. Thai, G.
Callender, & K. McKen (Eds.), Public procurement: International cases and
commentary (pp. 2541). London, England: Routledge.
Carayannisa, E. G., & Popescu, D. (2005). Profiling a methodology for economic growth
and convergence: Learning from the EU e-procurement experience for Central
and Eastern European countries. Technovation, 25(1), 114. doi:10.1016/s01664972(03)00071-3
Carlson, M., & ONeal-McElrath, T. (2008). Winning grants: Step by step. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Carter, L., & Blanger, F. (2005). The utilization of e-government services: Citizen trust,
innovation and acceptance factors. Information Systems Journal, 15(1), 15
25.doi:10.1111/j.1365-2575.2005.00183.x
Carter, R., & Grimm, R. (2001). Journal of Public Procurement under the FAU-NIGP
partnership. Journal of Public Procurement, 1(1), 38. Retrieved from
http://ippa.org/jopp/download/vol1/Carter%20&%20Grimm.pdf
Casaki, C., & Gelleri, P. (2005). Conditions and benefits of applying decision
technological solutions as a tool to curb corruption within the procurement
process: The case of Hungary. Journal of Purchasing and Supply Management,
11(5/6), 252259. doi:10.1016/j.pursup.2006.01.002
148
Cheng, E. Y., & Wang, Y. J. (2006). Business process reengineering and ERP benefits.
In Proceedings of the 11th Annual Conference of Asia Pacific Decision Sciences
Institute (pp. 201213). Retrieved from http://gebrc.nccu.edu.tw/proceedings/
APDSI/2006/201-213.pdf
Chvalkovsk, J., & Skuhrovec, J. (2010). Measuring transparency in public spending:
Case of Czech public e-procurement information system. Retrieved from
http://ies.fsv.cuni.cz/default/file/download/id/13692
Commonwealth of Australia, Department of Finance and Deregulation, Business
Procurement and Asset Management Group. (2013). Selling to the Australian
government: A guide for business. Retrieved from http://www.finance.gov.au/
sites/default/files/A_guide_for_business.pdf?v=1
Concha, G., Astudillo, H., Porrua, M., & Pimenta, C. (2012, January). E-government
procurement observatory, maturity model and early measurements. Government
Information Quarterly, 29(Suppl. 1), S43S50. doi:10.1016/j.giq.2011.08.005
Cook, P. F. (2010). How to perform a MANOVA in SPSS. Retrieved from
http://www.ucdenver.edu/academics/colleges/nursing/Documents/PDF/MANOV
AHowTo.pdf
Cooper, D., & Schindler, P. (2008). Business research methods. New York, NY:
McGraw-Hill Irwin.
Curtin University of Technology. (2007). Multilateral Development Bank international
survey of e-procurement system. Retrieved from http://www.unpcdc.org/media/
2658/international%20survey%20of%20e-procurement%20systems.pdf
De Almeida, M. O. (2002). E-procurement by Brazils federal government. Retrieved
from http://www.egov4dev.org/success/case/brazeproc.shtml
Deise, M. V., Nowikow, C., King, P., & Wright, A. (2000). Executives guide to ebusiness: From tactics to strategy. New York, NY: Wiley.
De Winter, J., Dodou, D., & Wieringa, P. (2009). Exploratory factor analysis with small
sample sizes. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 44(2), 147181. doi:10.1080/
00273170902794206
Ermal, E., & Miranda, H. (2012, June). Efficiency evaluation of the public e-procurement
system in the reduction of corruption: The Albanian case. Paper presented at the
Transatlantic Conference on Transparency Research, Utrecht, Netherlands.
European Parliament and the Council. (2004). Directive 2004/18/EC of the European
Parliament and of the Council. Official Journal of the European Union, 30(4),
114240. Retrieved from http://eurocodes.jrc.ec.europa.eu/doc/
publicprocurementdirective.pdf
149
150
Hidayanto, A. N., Ditari, Y., & Chahyati, D. (2012, June). Study of e-procurement
implementation impacts: A case study in PT. PLN. Paper presented at the
International Conference on Management of Innovation and Technology 2012,
Jakarta, Indonesia.
Hood, C., & Lodge, M. (2004). Competency, bureaucracy and public management
reform: A comparative analysis. Governance, 17(3), 313333. doi:10.1111/j.
0952-1895.2004.00248.x
Hui, W. S., Othman, R., Omar, N. H., Rahman, R. A., & Haron, N. H. (2011).
Procurement issues in Malaysia. International Journal of Public Sector
Management, 24(6), 567593. doi:10.1108/09513551111163666
Iqbal, M. S., & Seo, J. W. (2008). E-government as an anti corruption tool: Korean cases.
Journal of Korean Association for Regional Information Society, 11(2), 5178.
Retrieved from http://www.karis21.or.kr/karis21admin/adaction/down/03Iqbal_
Seo.pdf
International Monetary Fund. (1998). Ministers outline measures to strengthen monetary
system; adopt code of good practices on fiscal transparency. [International
Monetary Fund] IMF Survey, 27(8), 113115. Retrieved from https://www.imf.
org/external/pubs/ft/survey/pdf/042798.PDF
International Monetary Fund. (2010). World economic outlook: A survey by the staff of
the International Monetary Fund. Washington, DC: Author.
Jeppesen, R. (2010). Accountability in public procurement: Transparency and the role of
civil society. Retrieved from http://www.unpcdc.org/media/142496/story%20of
%20an%20institution%20-%20accountability.pdf
Johnson, B., & Christensen, L. (2008). Educational research: Quantitative, qualitative
and mixed approaches (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Kaiser, F., & Rice, J. (1974). Little Jiffy, Mark IV. Educational and Psychological
Measurement, 34(1), 111117. doi:10.1177/001316447403400115
Kaufman, J. S., Crusto, C. A., Quan, M., Ross, E., Friedman, S. R., ORielly, K., & Call,
S. (2006). Utilizing program evaluation as a strategy to promote community
change: Evaluation of a comprehensive, community-based family violence
initiative. American Journal of Community Psychology, 38(3/4), 191200.
doi:10.1007/s10464-006-9086-8
Kaufmann, D., Kraay, A., & Zoido-Lobaton, P. (1999). Governance matters.
Washington, DC: World Bank.
151
Knight, L., Caldwell, N., Harland, C., & Telgen, J. (2003). Government reform and
public procurement: Academic report of the first workshop. Retrieved from
http://www.irspp.com/Local/pdfs/irspp1_academicreport.pdf
Kpundeh, S. (2004). Process interventions versus structural reforms: Institutionalizing
anticorruption reforms in Africa. In B. Levy & S. Kpundeh (Eds.), Building state
capacity in Africa: Learning from performance and results (pp. 257282).
Washington, DC: World Bank Institute Development Studies.
Ladipo, O., Sanchez, A., & Sopher, J. (2009). Accountability in public expenditures in
Latin America and the Caribbean: Revitalizing reforms in financial management
and procurement. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Laerd Statistics. (n.d.). Friedman test in SPSS. Retrieved from https://statistics.laerd.com/
spss-tutorials/friedman-test-using-spss-statistics.php
Lee, M. J., & Lee, S. J. (2012). The evaluation for value-oriented public e-procurement
service. In Proceedings of International Public Procurement Conference (pp.
539562). Retrieved from http://woppaa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/
PAPER-II.15-THE-EVALUATION-FOR-VALUE-ORIENTED-PUBLIC-EPROCUREMENT-SERVICE.pdf
Leipold, K. (2007, July). Electronic government procurement (e-GP) opportunities and
challenges. Paper presented at the Modern Law for Global Commerce Congress
to Celebrate the Fortieth Annual Session of the United Nations Commission on
International Trade Law, Vienna, Austria. Retrieved from http://www.uncitral.
org/pdf/english/congress/Leipold.pdf
Lynch, J. (n.d.). Procurement planning and the procurement plan: Why are they
important? Retrieved from http://www.procurementclassroom.com/procurementplanning-and-the-procurement-plan-why-are-they-important/
Merriam, S. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. San
Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Mitra, R. K., & Gupta, M. P. (2007). Analysis of issues of e-governance in Indian police.
Electronic Government: An International Journal, 4(1), 97125. doi:10.1504/eg.
2007.012182
Morgan, L. L. (1996). Utilization-focused evaluation: A case study of a diversity program
evaluation (Doctoral dissertation). Available from ProQuest Dissertations and
Theses database. (UMI No. 9623545)
Morita, S., & Zaelke, D. (2005). Rule of law, good governance, and sustainable
development. In Seventh International Conference on Environmental Compliance
and Enforcement Proceedings (Vol. 1, pp. 1521). Retrieved from
http://www.inece.org/conference/7/vol1/05_Sachiko_Zaelke.pdf
152
Neupane, A., Soar, J., Vaidya, K., & Yong, J. (2012, August). Role of public eprocurement technology to reduce corruption in government procurement. Paper
presented at the International Public Procurement Conference, Seattle,
Washington. Retrieved from http://www.ippa.org/IPPC5/Proceedings/Part2/
PAPER2-8.pdf
Ngambi, D., & Brown, I. (2004). Utilisation-focused evaluation of ICT in education:
The case of DFAQ consultation space. Educational Technology & Society, 7(3),
3849. Retrieved from http://www.ifets.info/journals/7_3/5.pdf
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2005). Fighting corruption
and promoting integrity in public procurement. Retrieved from
http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/governance/fightingcorruption-and-promoting-integrity-in-public-procurement_9789264014008en#page1
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2006a). Methodology for
assessment of national procurement systems. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.
org/dataoecd/1/36/37130136.pdf
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2006b). Why is
procurement important? Retrieved from
http://unpcdc.org/media/6496/global%20procurement.
pdf
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development. (n.d.). E-procurement for
good governance and development in Italy, North Africa and the Middle East.
Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/mena/governance/39856250.pdf
Osei-Tutu, E., Mensah, S., & Ameyaw, C. (2011, June). The level of compliance with the
Public Procurement Act (ACT663) in Ghana. Paper presented at the Management
and Innovation for a Sustainable Built Environment Conference, Amsterdam, The
Netherlands.
Pashev, K., Dyulgerov, A., & Kaschiev, G. (2006). Corruption in public procurement:
Risks and reform policies. Sofia, Bulgaria: Center for the Study of Democracy.
Patton, M. Q. (2012a). Essentials of utilization-focused evaluation. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage.
Patton, M. Q. (2012b). A utilization-focused approach to contribution analysis.
Evaluation, 18(3), 364377. doi:10.1177/1356389012449523
Quesada, G., Gonzlez, M. E., Mueller, J., & Mueller, R. (2010). Impact of eprocurement on procurement practices and performance. Benchmarking: An
International Journal, 17(4), 516538. doi:10.1108/14635771011060576
153
Rai, A., Tang, X., Brown, P., & Keil, M. (2006). Assimilation patterns in the use of
electronic procurement innovations: A cluster analysis. Information and
Management, 43(3), 336349. doi:10.1016/j.im.2005.08.005
Ramirez, R., & Broadhead, D. (2013). Utilization focused evaluation: A primer for
evaluators. Penang, Malaysia: Southbound.
Rogers, E. M. (1995). Diffusion of innovations (4th ed.). New York, NY: The Free Press.
Rogers, E. M. (2003). Diffusion of innovations (5th ed.). New York, NY: The Free Press.
Rotchanakitumnuai, S. (2010, December). Tacit knowledge sharing for good governance
of e-government procurement. Paper presented at the 10th International
Conference on Electronic Business, Shanghai, China.
Rotchanakitumnuai, S. (2013). The governance evidence of e-government procurement.
Transforming Government: People, Process and Policy, 7(3), 309321.
doi:10.1108/TG-01-2013-0004
Russ-Eft, D. (1980). Validity and reliability in survey research. Palo Alto, CA: American
Institutes for Research in the Behavioral Sciences.
Saidi, N., & Yared, H. (2002, April). E-government: Technology for good governance,
development and democracy in the MENA countries. Paper submitted for the
Mediterranean Development Forum IV: Fostering Digital Inclusion: The Role of
ICT in Development, Amman, Jordan. Retrieved from http://www.passia.org/
goodgov/resources/eGovernment.pdf
Saxena, K. B. C. (2006). Toward excellence in e-governance. International Journal of
Public Sector Management, 18(6), 498513. doi:10.1108/09513550510616733
Schapper, P. R. (2008). The impact of e-procurement on corruption: The potential of eprocurement for curbing corruption risks. In Fighting bribery in public
procurement in Asia and the Pacific: Proceedings of the Seventh Regional
Seminar on Making International Anti-Corruption Standards Operational (pp.
113127). Retrieved from http://browse.oecdbookshop.org/oecd/pdfs/product/
2808041e.pdf
Schapper, P. R., Veiga Malta, J. N., & Gilbert, D. L. (2006). An analytical framework for
the management and reform of public procurement. Journal of Public
Procurement, 6(1/2/3), 126. Retrieved from http://ippa.org/jopp/download/vol6/
issue-1-2/Article_1_Malta.pdf
Schiavo-Campo, S., & Sundaram, P. (2000). To serve and preserve: Improving public
administration in a competitive world. Manila, Philippines: Asian Development
Bank.
154
Trkman, P., & McCormack, K. (2010). Estimating the benefits and risks of implementing
e-procurement. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 57(2), 338349.
doi:10.1109/tem.2009.2033046
United Nations. (2011). E-procurement: Towards transparency and efficiency in public
service delivery. Retrieved from http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/
documents/un/unpan047627.pdf
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. (2007).
Economic and social development in Asia and the Pacific. Retrieved from
http://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/good-governance.pdf
United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. (2009). What
is good governance? Retrieved from http://www.unescap.org/sites/default/files/
good-governance.pdf
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2005). E-government
toolkit for developing countries. Retrieved from http://omec.uab.cat/Documentos/
mitjans_dem_gov/0138.pdf
Vaidya, K., Callender, G., Sajeev, A. S. M., & Gao, J. (2004, April). Toward a model for
measuring the performance of e-procurement initiatives in the Australian public
sector: A Balanced Scorecard approach. Paper presented at the Australian
Electronic Governance Conference, Melbourne. Retrieved from
http://www.unpcdc.org/media/5184/australia%20measuring%20performance.pdf
Vajpey, A. (2010). Fair and transparent construction procurement with new ISO
standards. Retrieved from http://developmentprocurement.com/fair-transparentconstruction-procurement-with-new-iso-standards/
Veiga Malta, J. N., Schapper, P., Calvo-Gonzalez, O., & Berroa, D. (2011). Old rules,
new realities: Are existing public procurement systems addressing current and
future needs? Retrieved from http://siteresources.worldbank.org/
EXTLACOFFICEOFCE/Resources/Old_Rules_New_Reality_Sept2011_Web.pdf
Walker, J., & Madden, S. (2009). Statistics in criminology and criminal justice: Analysis
and interpretation (3rd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett.
Weiss, C. H. (2000). Which links in which theories shall we evaluate? Program theory in
evaluation: Challenges and opportunities. New Directions for Evaluation, 87, 35
45. doi:10.1002/ev.1180
Wittig, W. A. (n.d.). Public procurement and the development agenda. Retrieved from
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/gproc_e/wkshop_tanz_jan03/itcdemo1_e.pdf
Wittig, W. A. (1998). Report of the Conference on Public Procurement Reform in Africa.
Geneva, Switzerland: International Trade Centre.
156
157
158
Lodging complaint on the process and practice of procurement and sharing the
review decision on such complaints
Ensuring the budget for the procurement and payments before publishing
invitation to bids, or before awarding a contract
Keeping bidder information anonymous to all users until the bid opening time
160
Procurements are carried out in adherence to the annual procurement plan and
procurements are initiated on time
Clearly defined roles and authority of the public procurement officers, and
simplified automated administrative workflow available
Contract variation practices have been reduced, and projects are completed on
time, within the budget and with expected quality
161
Ensured value-for-money
Easy Access to Procurement Information and Instruments
Provides preview of the bidding document free of cost along with eligibility,
qualification, preferential, and evaluation criteria before buying the document,
Provides features of reusing bidding documents for procuring entities and bid
documents for bidders with minimum changes
Allows submission of bid only if all requested documents are uploaded and
information is provided to make the submitted bid responsive
Contract award information in line with the Open Contract Guidelines with
the details on the winning contractor, contract amount, agreed terms with the
contractors, contract execution site information
164
165
.471
595.004
276
.000
Initial
Extraction
1.000
.583
1.000
.683
1.000
.763
1.000
.779
1.000
.819
1.000
.780
1.000
.794
1.000
.636
1.000
.668
10
1.000
.814
11
1.000
.764
12
1.000
.717
13
1.000
.769
14
1.000
.783
15
1.000
.658
16
1.000
.639
17
1.000
.823
18
1.000
.580
19
1.000
.714
20
1.000
.843
21
1.000
.728
22
1.000
.842
23
1.000
.728
24
1.000
.708
166
Survey
Question
No.
Extraction sum
of squared
loadings
Initial eigenvalue
Total
% of var.
Cum %
Total
% of var.
Rotation sum
of squared
loadings
Cum %
Total
4.701
19.587%
19.587%
4.701
19.587%
19.587%
3.536
3.089
12.872%
32.460%
3.089
12.872%
32.460%
2.574
2.880
12.000%
44.459%
2.880
12.000%
44.459%
2.307
1.667
6.945%
51.404%
1.667
6.945%
51.404%
2.142
1.550
6.460%
57.864%
1.550
6.460%
57.864%
1.929
1.414
5.891%
63.755%
1.414
5.891%
63.755%
1.846
1.193
4.972%
68.726%
1.193
4.972%
68.726%
1.677
1.123
4.679%
73.405%
1.123
4.679%
73.405%
1.606
.991
4.130%
77.536%
10
.789
3.285%
80.821%
11
.715
2.978%
83.799%
12
.625
2.603%
86.402%
13
.579
2.413%
88.815%
14
.483
2.014%
90.829%
15
.450
1.874%
92.703%
16
.357
1.489%
94.192%
17
.335
1.396%
95.588%
18
.272
1.133%
96.721%
19
.220
.916%
97.637%
20
.184
.765%
98.402%
21
.147
.614%
99.016%
22
.105
.438%
99.454%
23
.081
.336%
99.790%
.210%
100.000%
24
.050
167
Accountability
Table B4. KaiserMeyerOlkin Measure and Bartletts Test Data for Accountability
KaiserMeyerOlkin measure of sampling adequacy
Bartletts test of sphericity
.819
550.499
105
.000
Initial
Extraction
1.000
.701
1.000
.776
1.000
.630
1.000
.601
1.000
.722
1.000
.692
1.000
.719
1.000
.772
1.000
.736
10
1.000
.661
11
1.000
.736
12
1.000
.632
13
1.000
.779
14
1.000
.618
15
1.000
.733
168
Initial eigenvalue
Survey
Question
No.
Rotation sum of
squared loadings
Total
% of
variance
Cumulative
%
Total
% of
variance
Cumulative
%
Total
6.988
46.588%
46.588%
6.988
46.588%
46.588%
5.516
2.305
15.370%
61.957%
2.305
15.370%
61.957%
2.748
1.213
8.088%
70.046%
1.213
8.088%
70.046%
2.242
.904
6.030%
76.076%
.809
5.393%
81.468%
.634
4.227%
85.695%
.492
3.282%
88.978%
.401
2.676%
91.653%
.293
1.952%
93.606%
10
.254
1.694%
95.300%
11
.234
1.560%
96.860%
12
.152
1.013%
97.873%
13
.146
.974%
98.847%
14
.098
.652%
99.499%
15
.075
.501%
100.000%
Corruption Control
Table B7. KaiserMeyerOlkin Measure and Bartletts Test Data for Corruption Control
KaiserMeyerOlkin measure of sampling adequacy
Bartletts test of sphericity
169
.748
90.081
6
.000
Initial
Extraction
1.000
.429
1.000
.828
1.000
.819
1.000
.555
Initial eigenvalue
Total
% of variance
Cumulative %
Total
% of variance
Cumulative %
2.631%
65.783%
65.783%
2.631
65.783%
65.783%
.736
18.407%
84.190%
.452
11.296%
95.485%
.181
4.515%
100.000%
170
.828
128.263
28
.000
Initial
Extraction
1.000
.484
1.000
.542
1.000
.671
1.000
.610
1.000
.763
1.000
.667
1.000
.571
1.000
.404
Table B12. Total Variance Explained for Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Predictability
Extraction
sum of
squared
loadings
Initial eigenvalue
Survey
Question
No.
Total
Rotation
sum of
squared
loadings
% of
variance
Cumulative
%
Total
% of
variance
Cumulative
%
Total
3.604
45.053%
45.053%
3.604
45.053%
45.053%
3.603
1.108
13.845%
58.898%
1.108
13.845%
58.898%
1.109
.926
11.580%
70.478%
.730
9.123%
79.601%
.544
6.801%
86.402%
.447
5.594%
91.995%
.337
4.209%
96.204%
.304
3.796%
100.000%
171
Easy Access
Table B13. KaiserMeyerOlkin Measure and Bartletts Test Data for Easy Access
KaiserMeyerOlkin measure of sampling adequacy
Bartletts test of sphericity
.633
73.029
28
.000
Initial
Extraction
1.000
.692
1.000
.630
1.000
.672
1.000
.648
1.000
.597
1.000
.677
1.000
.588
1.000
.603
172
Initial eigenvalue
Rotation
sum of
squared
loadings
Survey
Question
No.
Total
% of
variance
Cumulative
%
Total
% of
variance
Cumulative
%
Total
2.417
30.209%
30.209%
2.417
30.209%
30.209%
2.226
1.568
19.595%
49.804%
1.568
19.595%
49.804%
1.605
1.124
14.049%
63.853%
1.124
14.049%
63.853%
1.277
.909
11.362%
75.214%
.642
8.020%
83.234%
.540
6.756%
89.990%
.413
5.166%
95.156%
.388
4.844%
100.000%
173
.637
69.793
21
.000
Initial
Extraction
1.000
.486
1.000
.509
1.000
.606
1.000
.409
1.000
.816
1.000
.624
1.000
.364
Table B18. Total Variance Explained for Rule of Law and Equity
Extraction
sum of
squared
loadings
Initial eigenvalue
Survey
Question
No.
Total
Rotation
sum of
squared
loadings
% of
variance
Cumulative
%
Total
% of
variance
Cumulative
%
Total
2.630
37.572%
37.572%
2.630
37.572%
37.572%
2.203
1.183
16.901%
54.473%
1.183
16.901%
54.473%
1.610
.945
13.504%
67.977%
.777
11.106%
79.083%
.693
9.893%
88.976%
.431
6.162%
95.138%
.340
4.862%
100.000%
174
.752
129.078
6
.000
Initial
Extraction
1.000
.007
1.000
.907
1.000
.885
1.000
.868
Initial eigenvalues
Total
% of variance
Cumulative %
Total
% of variance
Cumulative %
2.667
66.682%
66.682%
2.667
66.682%
66.682%
.998
24.947%
91.628%
.204
5.090%
96.719%
.131
3.281%
100.000%
175
52
Chi square
430.655
df
23
Asymp. sig.
.000
176
Table C2. Friedman Chi-Square for Goodness-for-Fit Test Results for Transparency
Survey Question No.
Chi square
df
Asymp. sig.
64.731a
.000
38.231b
.000
22.077b
.000
44.923c
.000
38.923c
.000
37.538c
.000
40.769c
.000
64.154a
.000
40.308a
.000
10
52.769a
.000
11
17.615b
.001
12
36.846b
.000
13
15.115c
.004
14
20.115c
.000
15
12.615c
.006
16
8.769c
.033
17
26.077a
.000
18
64.538a
.000
19
32.038a
.000
20
35.231b
.000
21
28.308b
.000
22
30.500c
.000
23
10.500c
.033
24
25.692c
.000
Zero cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5; the minimum expected cell frequency is 10.4.
Zero cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5; the minimum expected cell frequency is 8.7.
c
Zero cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5; the minimum expected cell frequency is 13.0.
b
177
Accountability
Table C3. Friedman Test Results for Accountability
N
52
Chi square
195.092
df
14
Asymp. sig.
.000
Table C4. Friedman Chi-Square for Goodness-for-Fit Test Results for Accountability
Survey Question No.
Chi square
df
Asymp. sig.
38.192a
.000
25.885a
.000
25.115a
.000
37.231a
.000
22.038a
.000
32.000b
.000
47.231b
.000
21.077a
.000
20.115a
.000
10
14.346a
.006
11
8.385a
.078
12
12.423a
.014
13
22.808a
.000
14
16.308a
.001
15
24.346b
.000
Zero cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5; the minimum expected cell frequency is 10.4.
Zero cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5; the minimum expected cell frequency is 8.7.
178
Corruption Control
Table C5. Friedman Test Results for Corruption Control
N
52
Chi square
3.069
df
Asymp. sig.
.381
Table C6. Friedman Chi-Square for Goodness-for-Fit Test Results for Corruption Control
Survey Question No.
Chi square
df
Asymp. sig.
a
17.423a
11.269a
24.385b
20.923b
.002
.024
.000
.001
Zero cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5; the minimum expected cell frequency is 10.4.
Zero cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5; the minimum expected cell frequency is 8.7.
52
Chi square
61.423
df
Asymp. sig.
.000
179
Table C8. Friedman Chi-Square for Goodness-for-Fit Test Results for Efficiency,
Effectiveness, and Predictability
Survey Question No.
Chi square
df
Asymp. sig.
40.462a
23.769b
41.692a
39.731b
42.808b
51.654b
35.500b
56.462c
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
Zero cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5; the minimum expected cell frequency is 10.4.
Zero cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5; the minimum expected cell frequency is 8.7.
c
Zero cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5; the minimum expected cell frequency is 13.0.
b
Easy Access
Table C9. Friedman Test Results for Easy Access
N
52
Chi square
99.792
df
Asymp. sig.
.000
Table C10. Friedman Chi-Square for Goodness-for-Fit Test Results for Easy Access
Survey Question No.
Chi square
df
Asymp. sig.
37.308a
72.808b
21.154a
41.077c
13.192b
32.000a
90.308b
22.808b
.000
.000
.001
.000
.010
.000
.000
.000
Zero cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5; the minimum expected cell frequency is 10.4.
Zero cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5; the minimum expected cell frequency is 8.7.
c
Zero cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5; the minimum expected cell frequency is 13.0.
b
180
52
Chi square
35.992
df
Asymp. sig.
.000
Table C12. Friedman Chi-Square for Goodness-for-Fit Test Results for Rule of Law and
Equity
Survey Question No.
Chi square
df
Asymp. sig.
128.462a
82.615b
80.462b
45.692b
136.269c
26.000d
50.308c
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
Zero cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5; the minimum expected cell frequency is 10.4.
Zero cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5; the minimum expected cell frequency is 8.7.
c
Zero cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5; the minimum expected cell frequency is 13.0.
d
Zero cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5. The minimum expected cell frequency is 17.3.
b
52
Chi square
41.699
df
Asymp. sig.
.000
181
Table C14. Friedman Chi-Square for Goodness-for-Fit Test Results for Civil Society
Awareness
Survey Question No.
Chi squarea
df
Asymp. sig.
a
43.192
19.923
13.385
20.692
.000
.001
.010
.000
Zero cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5; the minimum expected cell frequency is 10.4.
182
Respondent
Mean
Std. deviation
Transparency
Bidder
Public entity
Regulatory/oversight
Total
3.1673
3.3134
3.4817
3.3019
.44177
.44267
.51882
.45066
11
35
6
52
Accountability
Bidder
Public entity
Regulatory/oversight
Total
2.8236
2.7357
2.7883
2.7604
.84872
.79579
.68464
.78151
11
35
6
52
Corruption Control
Bidder
Public entity
Regulatory/oversight
Total
2.7955
2.6357
2.4167
2.6442
1.02967
.96509
.93095
.96170
11
35
6
52
Efficiency, Effectiveness,
and Predictability
Bidder
Public entity
Regulatory/oversight
Total
3.7864
3.2989
3.8550
3.4662
.61907
.66130
.42208
.66578
11
35
6
52
Easy Access
Bidder
Public entity
Regulatory/oversight
Total
3.5827
3.0023
3.2100
3.1490
.58378
.59570
.52805
.62171
11
35
6
52
Bidder
Public entity
Regulatory/oversight
Total
3.8573
4.0209
4.1417
4.0002
.39852
.47146
.31403
.44277
11
35
6
52
Bidder
Public entity
Regulatory/oversight
Total
3.1364
2.5714
2.3750
2.6683
.83937
.82598
.75416
.84413
11
35
6
52
183
Effect
Intercept
Value
Hypothesis
df
Error
df
Sig.
Partial
eta
Noncent. Observed
squared parameter
power
Pillais
trace
.987 483.144a
.987
3382.009
1.000a
Wilks
lambda
.013 483.144a
.987
3382.009
1.000a
.987
3382.009
1.000a
Roys
78.651 483.144a
largest root
.987
3382.009
1.000a
Respondent Pillais
trace
.527
2.250
.264
31.502
.954
Wilks
lambda
.525
2.336a
.276
32.707
.961a
Hotellings
trace
.806
2.418
.287
33.854
.967
Roys
largest root
.654
4.113
.396
28.794
.972
The statistic is an upper bound on F that yields a lower bound on the significance level.
184
Type III
sum of
squares
df
Transparency
.398a
.199
.979
.383
.038
1.958
.211a
Accountability
.070b
.035
.055
.946
.002
.110
.058b
Corruption
Control
.565c
.282
.297
.744
.012
.594
.095c
Efficiency,
Effectiveness,
and
Predictability
3.015d
1.507
3.770
.030
.133
7.540
.661d
Easy Access
2.845e
1.423
4.132
.022
.144
8.265
.704e
Rule of Law
and Equity
.360f
.914
.407
.036
1.829
.199f
Civil Society
Awareness
3.255g
1.627
2.410
.100
.090
4.820
.463g
Transparency
346.845
346.845 1706.386
.000
.972
1706.386
1.000
Accountability
243.524
243.524
383.952
.000
.887
383.952
1.000
Corruption
Control
215.234
215.234
226.302
.000
.822
226.302
1.000
Efficiency,
Effectiveness,
and
Predictability
418.276
418.276 1046.119
.000
.955
1046.119
1.000
Easy Access
335.290
335.290
974.019
.000
.952
974.019
1.000
Rule of Law
and Equity
504.899
504.899 2566.776
.000
.981
2566.776
1.000
Civil Society
Awareness
228.314
228.314
338.135
.000
.873
338.135
1.000
Respondent Transparency
.398
.199
.979
.383
.038
1.958
.211
Accountability
.070
.035
.055
.946
.002
.110
.058
Corruption
Control
.565
.282
.297
.744
.012
.594
.095
Source
Corrected
model
Intercept
Mean
square
185
Sig.
Partial
eta
Noncent. Observed
squared parameter power
Source
Respondent
(continued)
Error
Total
Type III
sum of
squares
df
Efficiency,
Effectiveness,
and
Predictability
3.015
Easy Access
2.845
Rule of Law
and Equity
Dependent
variable
Mean
square
Partial
eta
Noncent. Observed
squared parameter power
Sig.
1.507
3.770
.030
.133
7.540
.661
1.423
4.132
.022
.144
8.265
.704
.360
.180
.914
.407
.036
1.829
.199
Civil Society
Awareness
3.255
1.627
2.410
.100
.090
4.820
.463
Transparency
9.960 49
.203
Accountability
31.079 49
.634
Corruption
Control
46.603 49
.951
Efficiency,
Effectiveness,
and
Predictability
19.592 49
.400
Easy Access
16.867 49
.344
Rule of Law
and Equity
9.639 49
.197
Civil Society
Awareness
33.086 49
.675
Transparency
577.298 52
Accountability
427.374 52
Corruption
Control
410.750 52
Efficiency,
Effectiveness,
and
Predictability
647.346 52
Easy Access
535.368 52
186
Source
Total
(continued)
Corrected
total
Dependent
variable
Type III
sum of
squares
df
Rule of Law
and Equity
842.078 52
Civil Society
Awareness
406.563 52
Transparency
10.358 51
Accountability
31.149 51
Corruption
Control
47.168 51
Efficiency,
Effectiveness,
and
Predictability
22.607 51
Easy Access
19.712 51
Rule of Law
and Equity
9.998 51
Civil Society
Awareness
36.340 51
Mean
square
Sig.
Partial
eta
Noncent. Observed
squared parameter power
R squared = .038 (adjusted R squared = .001). bR squared = .002 (adjusted R squared = .038). cR squared
= .012 (adjusted R squared = .028). dR squared = .133 (adjusted R squared = .098). eR squared = .144
(adjusted R squared = .109). fR squared = .036 (adjusted R squared = .003). gR squared = .090 (adjusted R
squared = .052).
187
1
1.1
Transparency
Mandatory to publish annual
procurement plan.
Annual procurement plan should be
possible to update.
Not clear in annual procurement plan
whether budget is secured for the
procurement.
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
1.7
1.8
1.9
1.10
1.11
Recommendation
188
Step
no.
1.12
2
2.1
Accountability
There is no code of conduct for all the
actors of the procurement process.
2.2
Accountability is misunderstood
requiring to maintain only by the public
officers.
2.3
Recommendation
To resolve this challenges, some options are
recommended: (a) Disclose the estimated cost of the
procurement; (b) To control at the time of bid
submission, if the bid is substantially low.
Permissible minimum offer can be set in the system,
but for this public procurement regulatory and
monitoring agency should work out on the reliable
price index to be used for preparing the estimate of
the procurements; and (c) Increase the weight
substantially in quality criteria, giving less weight to
price.
Code of conduct with commitment on confidentiality,
nondisclosure of the e-procurement data content,
incomplete and unauthorized data should be enforced
in the system to ensure the accountability in the
system and also outside the e-procurement system.
Needs a communication and awareness program to
make all the actors (i.e., public officers,
regulatory/oversight agencies, bidders and civil
society) in the procurement process and outside
realize their accountability.
Needs a change management program followed by a
comprehensive business process reengineering to
streamline the processes and practices, and also
capacitate the users on the new environment updating
their perception, knowledge, attitude, leveraging the
potential of e-procurement in a real sense.
189
Step
no.
2.4
2.5
2.6
2.7
Recommendation
190
Step
no.
Recommendation
3
3.1
Corruption Control
Face-to-face interaction at the time of
original hard copy submission of bid
security, hard copy submission of
online bids, requirement of physical
participation of bidders in prebid
meeting and bid opening (optional) is
still encouraging corruption.
3.2
4
4.1
4.2
4.3
4.4
4.5
5
5.1
Easy Access
Browsing speed is slow.
191
Step
no.
Recommendation
5.4
6
6.1
5.2
5.3
6.2
6.2
7.
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4
192
194
195
first thing in initiating the e-GP would be identifying who that key sponsor was going to
be and working hand-in-hand for the initiative.
Step 1.2: Situational Assessments
To assess the current procurement status, it is recommended to carry out a
procurement performance baseline study for setting benchmark of the current
procurement performance of the public procuring entities, and regulatory/oversight
agencies as well as bidding community.
Step 1.3: E-GP Readiness Assessment
Based on the information from the baseline study, an e-GP readiness and
feasibility assessment should be carried out enhancing the assessment tool developed by
the Multilateral Development Bank for assessing the readiness of countries under nine
areas (see Figure E2) for the introduction of e-GP. The e-GP self-assessment
questionnaire should be sent to the key ministries, public procurement
regulatory/oversight agencies, procuring entities covering urban and regional areas,
professional and civil societies, information technology and telecom authorities, mobile
service providers, private sector businesses, the bidding community, and public
enterprises.
E-GP readiness assessment provides the status of the country against nine key
dimensions essential for the introduction of e-GP in the country. The results of the
benchmarking and e-GP readiness assessments should indicate that the country has good
levels of preparedness or supporting programs for such readiness.
196
The e-GP strategy also should address policy issues in relation to legal, technical,
administrative, capacity building, governance model, sustainability model, human
resources model, authentication, third-party services (i.e., e-payment, Short Message
Service alert, etc.), operations and maintenance models, and a roadmap with clear action
plan for the implementation. A relevant competitive authority in the country should
endorse the e-GP strategy with full ownership and commitment for the implementation of
e-GP.
Step 1.5: Sensitization
Public awareness on e-GP and its benefits, challenges, purpose of
implementation, role of stakeholders should be communicated to general public, and
especially the political level, top-level administrator, policy makers, and civil societies
for the maximum utilization and sustainability of the e-GP system. This activity can be
implemented through organizing sensitization programs like workshops, seminars, audiovideo programs in radio and TV, and in paper media.
Step 2: Foundation Building
Development and adoption of a nationwide e-procurement system is one of the
key public sector management reform initiatives of a government. Step 2 activities will
prepare groundwork for the implementation of e-procurement system preparing itself
with the different preparatory tools, documents and capacities. Foundation building
activities include business process reengineering of the procurement processes and
practices, development of e-GP guidelines, development of business, functional, and
technical specifications of the e-GP system.
198
relationship with existing and new stakeholders. When most of the requirements of
compliance with the procurement acts and regulations are automatically addressed by the
e-GP system, new areas of performance-based roles of agencies are emerged.
Automation of processes and practices under the e-GP will generate new
relationships between stakeholdersregulatory/oversight agencies, bidding community,
banks, and with others, and new roles to be performed by different agencies. For
example, the e-GP system would have to be linked with different government e-services
for accessing, verifying, and validating the authenticity of the data to be used in e-GP. In
addition, the different laws and regulations governing electronic transactions (e.g.,
information and communications technologies, e-transaction, and e-signature acts) as
well as national e-government strategies, e-procurement strategies and other master
guidelines, would have to be synchronized and harmonized with the Public Procurement
Act and Public Procurement Regulations.
For making the implementation of the e-GP system well-accepted and free of
ambiguities while the majority of procuring entities are still following the paper-based
procurement practices, introducing the e-GP system should be supported by the
introduction of e-GP guidelines adequately endorsed by relevant competent authority of
the country. In addition to the e-GP guidelines, the standard bidding documents also to be
reengineered making friendly with the e-GP system requirements. This requires that e-GP
guidelines to govern the operation, use, performance monitoring by defining procurement
performance monitoring framework, and scope of the e-GP system in the country. The eGP guidelines will serve as the governing principles
Step 2.4: Development of E-GP Business,
200
Centralized registration system for procuring entities, and all other users of eprocurement system
E-bidding (covering all processes and procurement methods for goods, works,
and services supported by public procurement law and regulations of the
country from demand aggregation, annual procurement plan preparation, eadvertise, e-submission, e-evaluation, e-notice to signing of contract)
201
E-catalog
Online help
Custom-tailored
Government-to-government support
system with required configuration and customization to map with the countrys e-GP
requirements. There are many off-the-shelf e-GP applications available in the market,
which can be used with minimum configuration of parameters, and changes. The e-GP
system supplier will be required to develop the functionalities if any requirements
specific to the country procurement environment are not available in offered existing
system. The e-GP system should be procured with the perpetual license and license to
modify and update the source code by the client as required, and to be used across the
country in all the procuring entities, public entities, all other users including national and
International bidders.
Step 3.2: Data Center Preparation
Preparation of data center includes the assistance for building data center.
Building the data center involves installation of power solutions and power backup,
precision air-conditioning, fire alarm system, digital closed-circuit television, surge
suppressor, access control system, water detection system, dehumidifier, pest repellent,
data rack, raised flooring, electrical and civil works, and passive components like
network cables, patches, and so on, procurement of data center and mirror center servers,
network equipment, storage, power solution, Internet connectivity, and required system
software and licenses
Step 3.3: Capacity Building and Change Management
Change management is one of the important activities to be carried out at all
levels of user environments for the successful adaptation of the e-GP system. For public
procuring entities, the new rules and practices in the electronic environment will require
changes to the way they work, for example, in use of new procedures, as well as the
203
technology mandates. For some, the appropriate technology will already be in place. For
others, that are operating public procurement in a purely manual manner, there is a need
to take necessary change actions in short time to ensure e-GP system can be properly
implemented. Change management could be a mammoth, but sometimes you can
piggyback the already started initiatives. Sometimes, if the country already have
implemented any e-services, like IFMIS, the trails made by those implementations can be
followed. For the change management, changes to be managed in the following areas:
Structural/institutional
Benchmark study visits for the selected key users should be conducted in
few of the developed and developing countries for gaining knowledge and
learn from the experience on the implementation of e-GP system.
204
For the effective adaptation of the e-GP system by its key users and make
the e-GP system successful, initial support on its operation, maintenance,
implementation management is very important. For this, it is important to
establish helpdesk, resource with project management team and resources
for e-GP and data center operation and maintenance.
3.4: Pilot and Full Rollout Across All Public Procuring Entities
Implementation of e-GP system is recommended to be adopted in phased rollout
model as opposed to the traditional phased module activation model. This means that the
initial system developed shall cover all methods of procurement and stages of the
procurement process and all the required functionality to enable piloting of a complete
system. Procuring entities will chose which procurement method to start with based on
their availability of procurement packages under the annual procurement plan.
Phasing should be standalone. E-procurement processes should be complete for
any procurements. Options of parallel submission of hardcopy bids and also online
submission for the same procurement should not be encouraged. It options provided, it
will only delay the adaptation of the e-GP system and support the procurement reform in
true sense. All the procurement methods should be developed from the very beginning.
Otherwise with this what happens is that even a department using e-procurement will
have to use e-procurement for one of the procurement and manual system for others. This
kind of e-procurement implementation does not give desired benefits. It also does not
improve efficiency of the agency but adds more burden for capacity requirements as well
as resources for both types of procurements. It will only promote systemic corruption.
Phases of rollout would be divided into two phases:
1. Pilot in selected agencies
205
One or two representative pilot agencies each could be chosen from among
the agencies focusing on goods, works and services procurement
206
Activity
Purpose
1
1.1
1.2
Procurement
performance baseline
survey
E-GP readiness
assessment
1.3
1.4
1.5
Sensitization about
e-GP
Outcome
Leader, sponsor, or
champion identified
Sponsor the idea of
e-GP system
Situational assessments
3 months
E-GP readiness
assessment report
with the strengths,
gaps, and perceptions
National strategy
for e-GP system
implementation
with action plan
Strong political,
executive level
support and
commitment
209
Estimated
time
Political and
executive
commitment
2 months
3 months
Activity
2
2.1
Foundation building
Securing budget for
the e-GP program
2.2
2.3
Preparation of e-GP
guidelines
2.4
Purpose
210
Outcome
Secured required
budget for e-GP
implementation
Reengineered and
standard processes
and practices for eGP
Estimated
time
3 months
E-GP guidelines or
directive
3 months
Specification
document of e-GP
system for the
acquisition of the
system and related
services, and its
infrastructure
2 months
3.2
Activity
Purpose
3.3
Capacity building
and change
management
3.4
3.5
Operations and
management
3.6
Third-party e-GP
system audit
211
Outcome
Estimated
time
Installed operational
e-GP system
Acquisition
of e-GP
system
Physical environment
of data center with
virtual platforms for
the development,
testing, training, and
transactions
(production)
Trained users
Users with positive
attitude towards
change
3 months
Number of public
entities test the
procurement cycle in
electronic
environment
Ensured stable and
robust e-GP system
Confidence
development for
other agencies for
further nationwide
rollout
Live e-GP system all
the time 24/7/365 for
procurement
transactions
Happy users getting
required support for
its operations
Updated procurement
information and
processes
Validated and trusted
e-GP system for the
use in public
procurement
One
procurement cycle
(3 months
to 1 year)
Ongoing
during the
life of e-GP
3 months