Contract management and value for money in statutory government entities: a case study of Electoral Commission, Uganda

Abstract

In Uganda, the PPDA Act 2003 is the main reference for procurement law, regulations and guidelines. All statutory bodies are therefore under obligation to follow the PPDA Act 2003 throughout the procurement process which includes contracts management. However for many procurement audits conducted by public procurement and disposal of assets authority, it has been established that Electoral Commission (EC) procurement process still suffers contract management hitches like supply of substandard items, over blown cost of supplies, missing records of contract implementation plans and delayed payments to providers to mention but a few. The study set out to establish the effect of contract management on value for money at E.C. The researcher used mainly primary data from staff of Electoral Commission in Uganda. Sixty nine (69) respondents out of a population of eighty four (84) were selected using purposive sampling, stratified and random sampling techniques (response rate of 91.3%). Data was collected using closed ended questionnaires. Some interview questions were also used to back up the data from questionnaires. The findings obtained indicate that contract management E.C, Uganda highly and positively affects value for money (Adjusted R = 55.4%, Sig. Value= 0.000). In light of this, the researcher therefore concludes that, contract management strongly affects value for money, and that the findings of this research can act as a cornerstone for practitioners to appreciate the importance of contract management, and in particular appreciate the value of contract implementation plan, contract administration and contract monitoring if value for money is to be achieved.