Content analysis and ranking of irregularities in public sector construction procurement in South Africa

Abstract

In the South African government sector, public procurement is a strategic mechanism through which the government could be able to achieve the mandatory socioeconomic objectives. To this extent, the government procures goods and services from the private sector which can be estimated around eight hundred billion rand annually. Although there are numerous policy frameworks and systems to ensure that the management of the public procurement processes are fair, equitable, transparent, and cost-effective; the public procurement management practice, particularly in the delivery of construction goods and services, remains vulnerable to mismanagement and irregularities. To this extent, the nature of the irregularities and the stages at which they occur in the public procurement system remains unclear. To address this gap of knowledge, a content analysis method and the associated techniques of in-Vivo coding and word frequency analysis were used for the analysis of the secondary data. The study revealed that poor and or non-performance were the most frequent irregularities in the procurement of public construction services. The principal theoretical implication of this study is that rigorous proficiency measures should be applied to scrutinize and evaluate the potential of the contractors in terms of capacity to deliver in accordance with the contractual agreements prior to the awarding of contracts.

Contemporary trends in the development of public procurement law in South Africa

“…It is accordingly not surprising that Lukhele, Botha and Mbanga identified the awarding of unproductive contracts as the top category of construction procurement irregularities in South Africa (representing about 47% of all irregularities in this sector identified in their study). 23 The result is that the procurement system is not cost-effective.…”

Using Blockchain Technology to Improve the Integrity and Transparency of Procurement Processes between SMMEs and Government: A Systematic Literature Review

“…This has allowed for a high level of human interference, contributing to corruption, favoritism, and inefficiency, demonstrating the country's readiness to fully implement e-procurement in its public sector [14]. Although the SA government has implemented numerous policy frameworks and systems to ensure fair, equitable, transparent, and cost-effective public procurement processes, the processes remain vulnerable to mismanagement and irregularities [15]. According to [16], poor procurement processes result in the appointment of incompetent contractors, and practitioners engage in unethical behavior, such as bribery, out of desperation for work [16].…”

Public procurement system challenges at selected higher education institutions in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

“…The new 2017 regulations of the PPPFA, "affords organs of state with an election to apply one or more of the listed pre-qualification criteria as follows: (Sedumedi, Public procurement in the South African government sector serves as a strategic instrument for the attainment of mandated socioeconomic goals. In this regard, the government engages in the acquisition of products and services from the private sector, with an expected yearly value of around eight hundred billion rand (Lukhele, Botha & Mbanga, 2022).…”