THE ROLE OF PROCUREMENT LAW IN SOCIAL ENGINEERING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT IN MERU COUNTY
Keywords:
Procurement Law, Developmental Outcomes, Transparency, Legal Compliance, Meru CountyAbstract
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This study analyzed how procurement law affects developmental outcomes within Meru County in Kenya under the prevailing atmosphere of the Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act (PPADA, 2015). The main target was to evaluate the transformative role that the prevailing procurement legal regime has played in promoting transparency, accountability, preference policies, in influencing the performance of the public service, quality of the project, and the satisfaction of the community. The study was based on the governance and institutional theory alongside a descriptive cross-sectional study based on structured questionnaires made to a sample population of 106 of the procurement stakeholders that were represented by a sample of county departments, contractors, auditors and civil society. Data analysis was carried out through the descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression models. The analysis indicated that all four constructs of the procurement law had a statistically significant positive relationship with development outcomes, with the strongest level of relationship being e not legal compliance (r = 0.648), followed by transparency (r = 0.603). These relationships were further validated using regression analysis with the overall model explaining 56.6 percent of the interconnections in the development output. The levels of legal compliance once again came out as the prominent predictor (? = 0.319) which stresses the centrality of enforcement as a facilitator of procurement effectiveness. Descriptive statistics indicated that respondents identified some successes in their procurement planning, bid accessibility along with competitive tendering, but also noted the shortcomings in enforcement, training, support of innovation, and also citizen oversight. Under Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) program, the inclusivity mechanisms were considered constitutional but under-implemented administratively. On the same note, even though there was transparency on the planning process, the openness and access by the citizens on post award and audit reports were weak. The study concluded that effectiveness of the procurement law alone is not enough, unless its institutionalization as well as autonomous enforcement and participatory styles are sound. The study recommends reinforcement of law enforcement outfits such as the PPRA, introduction of open contracting data standards (OCDS), mobilization of AGPO support services, transformation of payment and monitoring processes, and creation of civic procurement forums. Among the limitations, there is the use of perceptual data in one-county level. Future studies ought to consider comparative research between counties, more objective development measures and a qualitative input of marginalized stakeholders. In totality, this study reaffirms that procurement law is a strategic gearing towards inclusive development and accountable governance under the devolved system in Kenya to provide empirical support as well as a policy direction towards reinforcing the developmental aspect of procurement.
Key Words: Procurement Law, Developmental Outcomes, Meru County, Transparency, Legal Compliance
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