. Influence of need assessment on procurement performance in public universities in Eastern Region Kenya

Abstract

There has been effort by the public institutions in Kenya to improve performance of the procurement function. However, poor procurement performance interms ofdelays and poor qualitygoods received isstilla challenge. The objective of the study was to investigate need assessment on procurement performance in public universities. The study adopted a descriptive research design. The population of the study was 324 participants, the sample size was 102 and stratified sampling was adopted. Data which was collected by means of questionnaires. Multiple linear regressionmodelsaidedinanalysistobringouttheinfluenceofindependentvariablesonthedependentvariablewith thehelpofStatisticalPackagesforSocialSciences(SPSSVersion28.0).Thesignificanceoftheindependentvariable was tested using t-test. The t statistics and significance level established a statistically significant positive effect of needsassessmentonprocurementperformanceofpublicuniversitiesinEasternregionata5%significancelevelwith coefficientof0.059,andp-values0.405.Thestudyconcludedthatpublic universitiesshouldencourage effective use of need assessments to impact positively on the effectiveness of the procurement process of public universities in Eastern region. The findings of this study are expected to be useful to; public universities, as it would provide complementary knowledge useful in formulation of policy and a regulatory framework on procurement planning in thePublicUniversities.Thestudywillbeakeyingredientinthe;planning,designingandimplementationofasound public procurement planning that will align itself to the overall economic strategy.