Auditorias periódicas de 5S

Substantial codes related to clear and ethical executive leadership.

“Almost all the councils have specific PUs that handle all procurements. This is a statutory requirement”. (LCC 3.3)

“I believe that most of the PUs operate differently because of different levels of the people in the IPC and level of those in the PU”. (BCC 2.3)

“There has been lack of clarity in terms of the handling of the entire supply chain in that there is a lot of interference. We have often confused those that are doing the purchasing with those that are doing materials management”. (LCC 3.4)

“We need to review the law as a matter of urgency so that we can come up with a law that covers the entire supply chain. The part that refers to goods, works and services has been covered quite well, but processes like materials management, distribution, and logistics have not been adequately covered”. (LCC 3.5)

In the proposed law, the head of PU should be put at Director level, and no two ways about this”. (LCC 1.7)

“I believe that the public sector will continue to be provided with awareness by now. The ODPP should put strategies that will help align procurement function with what city councils procure”. (BBC2.4)

“Could be M6 but if you look at the amount of work this procurement unit is doing, considering

three quarters of budget spent through it, it is necessary for this council to establish its PU to level of M4 post so that this officer is a high rank officer within the council hierarchy, but that can only be done when you have an establishment”. (LCC9.2).

Interestingly, non-procurement professionals interviewed were not able to distinguish between strategic activities and operational activities of the procurement function. Alignment in this study meant putting procurement function at the same level with DoF, DoP and or DoA. The procurement professionals, unlike the non-professionals, were able to understand that procurement practices were complicated. At council level, the procurement function comprised

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of user sections, procurement office and the IPC. The roles of these offices were clearly explained in chapter three. However, much as procurement personnel were responsible for procurement operations, most of the documents analysed showed that some procurements by-passed the procurement authorities. It was clear that the procurement officers made sure that all procurements complied with the PPRs and got involved in procurements even though things did not work. The procurement officers were also responsible for the interpretation of the PPA based on the items to be bought. Whether their interpretation was followed or not is another issue given the so many anomalies discovered during this study. Even though this has been the case, recent studies by Msaka, (2009); Baily, et.al, (2008) and Schiele, (2011) have established that meaningful involvement of procurement professionals; add a lot of value. These findings are similar to what Jones, (2004) found. The following figure presents the analysis of the relationships among user department, procurement function, the IPCs and department of finance (Jones, 2004).

The figure 4.2 below is a good example of how the function of procurement operates. The processes from initiation of a need, supplier identification, contract administration and payment to the supplier are well defined.

Figure 4.2: Frameworks for procurement function

Figure 4.2 : Frameworks for procurement function Source: Jones, P. 2004

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4.3.1.2 Procurement function to operate strategically (F2)

Many successful strategies have been identified to address the structural significance. To observe best procurement practice, based on substantiating concepts and codes from data analysis, a brief discussion is as follows:

There was need for developing a common strategy that needs a clear combination of jobs and roles of the procurement function.

Several challenges exist in building up an effective organisational structure for procurement function. While procurement function is naturally multidisciplinary and requires all stakeholders, it also ought to be autonomous when discharging its duties. The conflicts between the LGA (1998) and the PPA (2003) ought to be balanced. Usually, good laws are those that work alongside others. Because of knowledge gaps in procurement issues, civic education in public institutions should be prioritised. In all the city councils, all respondents except CPOs and POs did not understand procurement processes.

Building a practical procurement function was an effective long-term strategy to maximise the benefits of the function. Figure 4.3 below presents the source of public procurement structure. The figure also guides procurement function in the public sector.

Figure 4.3 Structure of procurement Function

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Figure 4.3: Procurement function to operate strategically (F2) Source: ODPP

Procurement organisational structure and responsibilities are determined by legislature. It is for this reason that such structures need to be complied with. The local councils primarily need to influence the public procurement systems through decent laws. The following table presents the substantiating codes for the structure of the procurement function.

Ac

countable

Policy making and management

Procurement function in operation

Feedback Authorization and

appropriation

Procurement regulations and procedures

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Table 4.9: Procurement function to operate strategically (F2)

Substantial responses for structural change of procurement function in city councils

‘‘The head of procurement should be someone who has pre-requisite qualifications for one to be able to manage procurement”. (LCC1.0)

“If we are going to have board of engineers, are we going to have the head of engineers anyhow? These are some of the things to be looked at when devising the strategic structure of procurement”. (LCC1. 1)

“The other emphasis would be on the membership of the evaluation team for bids so that you have only professional input. I believe that the evaluation process should be left to the experts”. (LCC1.2)

"The law requires that the Chairperson of the IPC must be the CEO. The question is, how transparent would the committee be with the CEO as head of the IPC”? (LCC 1.3)

“Currently things are coming up, but you know for a long time, the procurement profession has been marginalised. It is now that ministries are properly upgrading headship of procurement units. This was not there before”. (LCC 1.4)

“The public sector needs to be provided with awareness information by the ODPP about the need for proper alignment of procurement function’’. (BCC 1.0)

“However here at …the PU is under the department of administration. Therefore, the procurement officer is supposed to report to the DoA. The function is not independent”. (BCC 1.1)

“Here…., the advisory role of the CPOs cannot work because the Chairperson is chosen by the CEO”. (LCC 2.0)

““At the moment, am the PO in acting capacity. However, the structure does not comply with the PPA”. (LCC 2.1)

Properties

1. Development of cross-functional procurement function in councils needs deliberate

understanding roles the PO plays in value adding to council’s resources by controlling officer.

2. Several challenges exist in coming up with an effective organisational structure for

procurement units due to lack of knowledge about legal requirements. The reasons for this include that many stakeholders have interests in the procurement job.

3. Due to obvious complex nature of the PPPs, there is still a lot of disagreements about the

general objectives and values of the procurement function.

4. Exclusive and decentralisation of procurement activities to the very grassroots in each

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officers in the councils had pre-requisite qualifications in procurement. These people however needed to be the lead buyers in all procurement projects.

5. Procurement function is heavily built on processes and people as observed by Murray,

(2007). There are different people who play different roles contributing to the success or failure of procurement processes. In the councils, these people can have a negative bearing on compliance. This can be a result when the procurement function is not properly aligned. The current structure which requires that the procurement function report to the DoA is not health.

Specific procurement strategies

1. Establishing lead buying teams at the grassroots in the councils where procurement projects

are executed. More so, grassroots people are not the employees of the councils and therefore it is difficult for procurers from councils to lead these people. After all, doing so means violating the LGA, (1998) that was meant to empower the locals. That aside, as noted in the literature review, letting these people go it alone can also breed serious fraud, corruption and nonprocedural procurements. The procurement function is not simply an organisational function, it is competence-based and procurers fully understand the business environment they operate in.

2. The procurement function should be able to play strategic and coordinating roles. The

respective user departments should leverage most of the operational aspects of procurement activities. What we make here is that the procurement function and the grassroots people should be decentralised. Lead buyers should simply provide technical advice. This can reduce the chances of occurrence of maverick buying.

3. While the procurement function may revolve around the central function, the overall cost of

such purchases is allocated to respective user departments. Similarly, user departments and cost centre managers should be well informed on their role in procurements since they control their budgets.

4. One of the long-term tasks of procurement function is to ensure that goods, works and

services are acquired at VFM and maintaining defined specifications. This can only be achieved when user departments are able to understand their needs. Likewise, they should be able to communicate to procurement function for necessary processes.

5. The public procurement management approach often entails the need to change culture

towards procurement practices. In addition to the organisational and cultural conditions, its success depends on the attributes and skills of the procurement professionals.

6. Integrating the roles of procurement function in existing functional jobs is a proven strategy

for the success of public procurement management among all departments.