Procurement practices and service delivery local government.

ABSTRACT The study aimed at examining the role of procurement practices and service delivery in Mogadishu, Somalia. The study was guided by three objectives that include; to examine the extent to which procurement practices are followed in Mogadishu, to examine the extent of service delivery in Mogadishu and finally to establish the relationship between procurement practices and service delivery in Mogadishu, Somalia. The study adopted a co-relational design with both qualitative and quantitative approaches. A sample of 104 respondents was established from a target population of 141 that included all selected departments in the local government, questionnaires and interviews were among the collection instruments used for data gathering and then the analysis was done with the help of SPSS version 20.0. The findings established that functional user departments were deemed fit for this study since they are semi-autonomous in their expenditure. However, getting funds directly from the government through the local government and are bound by the new procurement guidelines. Based on the findings, it was suggested that procurement practices have a great impact on the overall performance of the procurement systems in the local government authorities. In regard to the extent of service delivery, the findings established that there is inefficiency due to delays in issuing of tender documents and further there is lack of capacity in service delivery due to corruption and low monitoring. The study also established significant relationships between procurement practices and service delivery in Mogadishu. The study then concluded that there are various key determinants that affect effective service delivery and hence the desire to minimize them cannot be emphasized enough, among these determinants included lack of a clear management plan and methods of capturing key data and finally there is also little flow of information among the government entities concerning service delivery. The study makes practical and policy recommendations to the Government, Academic Institutions and the relevant authorities as to the way a head to improve service delivery in the country that include investing more in expanding political capacity necessary to implement procurement regulations, necessity for more training of procurement officers and fighting corruption in the procurement practices. The study therefore contributed to existing knowledge through examining the various determinants affecting procurement practices and service delivery and hence highlights the ways in which these problems can be overcome by covering the gap missed by other researchers.