Ethical dilemmas and bid evaluation process in the Ministry of Education and Sports

Abstract

The study investigated the effect of ethical dilemmas on the bid evaluation process in the Ministry of Education and Sports. Specifically, the study objectives related to investigating the effect of conflict of interest, standards of the specified goods, works, services, sharing of confidential information on bid evaluation process at the Ministry of Education and Sports. The study used a mixed methods design using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The study population comprised of Procurement, Administration, User 0Department, Contracts committee, Finance and accounts department, Accounting officer and Audit. Data was collected using a questionnaire survey and interviewing methods and was analyzed using measures of central tendency and regression analyses. The study found that Conflict of interest in the application of the bid evaluation regulations has no significant effect on the bid evaluation process and it was not a significant predictor of bid evaluation process in the ministry (β = -0.137, t = -0.924, Sig = 0.358). The multiple linear regression results revealed that Standards of the specified works, services and supplies had no significant effect on the bid evaluation process in the ministry (β = -0.089, t = -0.490, sig = 0.625). Sharing of confidential information was the strongest predictor of bid evaluation process in the ministry (β= 1.196, t = 10.733, sig = 0.000). The linear multiple regression results indicated that sharing of confidential information has a significant effect on the bid evaluation process in the Ministry of Education and Sports. The study concluded that the Ministry cannot limit an evaluation committee member to participate in the evaluation process much as they may have an interest in the bidder evaluated, suppliers can be evaluated much as they may not have quoted for all the list of supplies and services and the evaluation team is not supposed to share the information concerning the bidder’s quotation to the other bidder competitors.