Impact of Procurement Methods on Performance of Public Hospitals: Evidence from Pumwani Maternity Hospital, Kenya

Abstract

In the Kenya, the Government is constantly putting its procurement plans and policies into action.  However, beneath every procurement-related activity, the public sector is witnessing growing inefficiency in performance, which is culminating into increasing public dissatisfaction. These performance issues are negatively effect on procurement in the public hospitals. Although research clearly demonstrates the effect of the public procurement process on public sector performance, available empirical evidence highlights; methodological, conceptual and contextual gaps These breaches motivated the present study so as to bridge the gaps and bring new evidence. The objective of the research was to examine how procurement methods affect the performance of the public hospital in Kenya with particular interest in Pumwani Maternity Hospital. The study employed descriptive research design while targeting the 62 senior store, procurement and finance officers at Pumwani Maternity Hospital. Since population was small and manageable, the study employed census where the 62 officers were used as respondents.  Primary data were gathered using a structured questionnaire where the study used descriptive statistics and developed predictive models using inferential analysis. The study found that each of; open tendering (β=0.172; p = 0.032; r=0.4330), request for quotation (β= 0.458; p = 0.001; r=0.806), direct procurement (β= 0.174; p= 0.020; r=0.393) and restricted tendering and hospital performance (β=0.426; p= 0.002; r=0.818) has a significant and positive impact on the performance of public hospitals in Kenya. It was recommended that public hospitals in Kenya should re-examine their open tendering practices with an emphasis on maintaining transparency as a core component of the procurement process, improve its request for quotation method by emphasizing standardisation of the assessment criteria, formulate clear guidelines for purpose of establishing the circumstances under which direct procurement can be used and create standard qualification and appraisal benchmarks for all suppliers involved in restricted tendering.