Horizontal cooperative purchasing in police and prisons• the case of Uganda police force and Uganda prisons service

Abstract

This research report aimed at examining the extent or horizontal cooperative purchasing performance in the procuring and disposing entities in the forces in Uganda with specific reference to Uganda Police Force and Uganda Prisons Service. In this regard , the specific objectives were to establish the status and form of collaboration between the two entities. identify the benefits of collaboration, examine the relationship between horizontal collaboration and performance of procurement and disposal entities, and how horizontal cooperative purchasing can be improved . Considering the methodology, available literature on horizontal cooperative purchasing has been covered to extract the most plausible information and data related to collaborative purchasing on how it contributes to creating value, while putting into account the performance metrics of cost management, timely delivery, quality management and accountability. However. the above metrics in the study revealed that they could be used as a way forward to act as avenues of improving horizontal cooperative purchasing in the public sector. The findings of the study reveal that there is collaborative purchasing between the two entities especially in terms of preliminary stages of the purchasing process including but not limited to information seeking about the prices and technical specifications or identical items required by the entities. Informal collaborations are prevalent from simple collaborative activities thus requiring minimum level of collaboration that is more short term in nature and simpler in its purpose. The study recommends that to advance public sector se rv1cc delivery and reach long term solutions, collaborative activity needs to be appreciably more strategic in its approach to assure intentional, systematic exclusionary collaboration as its administrators wrestle to achieve the best outcomes.