Public Procurement Reforms in Africa: Challenges, Constraints and Improvement Opportunities

Procurement is increasingly becoming part of the success strategies of many business organizations today. Making up between 15% and 20% of GDP, public procurement contributes to greater competitiveness by stimulating trade and fostering foreign direct investment. Strong public procurement systems are central to well-functioning public financial management institutions and good public sector governance. Due to the huge sums of money involved, public procurement remains one of the most vulnerable enterprises to corruption across the globe. The failure of public procurement system in Africa has been attributed to several factors including weak commitment to fighting corruption, ineffective implementation of the reformed procurement system, lack of transparency in the award of government contract, lack of accountability on the part of government, both national and local government in the use of public funds among other factors. The main objective of this study was to look at the challenges, constraints and improvement opportunities of public procurement reforms in Africa. This study found that f or effective procurement transformation to be realized, effective procurement systems, trained procurement staff with knowledge, skills and competencies are required. African states must ensure that public procuring entities develop procurement strategies and formulate timelines that would influence compliance to public procurement contract timelines. Public procurement in Africa must ensure there is value for money in every procurement transaction. Value for money reflects a concern for more transparency and accountability in spending public funds. Value for money is therefore not a choice of goods or services which is based on the lowest bid price but a choice based on the whole life costs of the project or service. For accountability to be realized in public contracts, there need for regular review and audit of the contract management process. An effective contract management process must ensure higher process efficiency at every stage of the contract cycle which in turn maximizes value for money to the public and the procuring entity. Key Words: public procurement, Procurement reforms CITATION: Panya, K. O., & Awuor, E. (2023). Public procurement reforms in Africa: challenges, constraints and improvement opportunities . The Strategic Journal of Business & Change Management, 10 (2), 1435 – 1456.