Assessment of Factors Affecting procurement performance the case of Agarfa ATVET College

ABSTRACT Most TVET Colleges and particularly Agricultural ATVET colleges in Ethiopia are fully dependent on the government’s budget, which comes from taxpayers. However, there is misappropriation of procurement budgets. Delays, poor, qualified products and services, over overpricing compared to the actual market price are the basic problems observed in procurement functions in TVET Colleges, and improvement action needed. The researcher identified five dimensions that affect the procurement performance. Primary and Secondary source data was integrated. Primary source: includes the actual information received from individuals directly concerning the problem of the study through interviews and questionnaires. The secondary data source was included previous research reports, newspapers, magazines, and journal content. The research design is made based on descriptive and explanatory research. The sample size of the study is 400 respondents from academic (Dean, vice deans, and department heads) and administrative staff who are currently working at management positions and have a direct relationship with procurement activities. The interpretation was conducted, which can be as qualitative in nature. The study concludes that Procurement planning, Staff Competency, Professional Ethics, item specification, and Procurement policy positively affect procurement performance at Agarfa ATVET College. The most important factor was found to be the Items specification dimension, followed by Professional Ethics and Procurement Policy, as pointed out by most of the respondents. The study recommends that Agarfa ATVET College should set a clear specification for items procured, developing a platform to clarify any inquire, stating all tender requirements and also improve the level of tolerance in acceptance of gifts of any kind, meet ethical guidelines regarding information access, keep contractual obligations and government regulations and has to develop a written code of ethics.