Poor Performance in Supply Chain Management Procurement – Proposal

An investigation on the course of poor performance in Supply Chain Management Procurement Section in the Department of Agriculture Limpopo Province: Vhembe District A Research Proposal Table of Contents 1.INTRODUCTION AND BACKROUND...........................................................3 2.PROBLEM STATEMENT...................................................................4 3.RESEARCH OBJECTIVES...................................................................4 4.RESEARCH QUESTIONS...................................................................4 5.LITERATURE REVIEW.....................................................................4 6.RESEARCH DESIGN......................................................................5 7.ETHICS STATEMENT.....................................................................6 8.CHAPTER OUTLINE......................................................................6 9.TIME-LINE............................................................................7 10. BUDGET............................................................................7 11.PRELIMINARY BIBLIOGRAPHY.............................................................8 12.FEASIBILITY..........................................................................8

1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKROUND

Procurement reforms in South Africa started in 1995 and were directed at two broad focus areas, the promotion of principles of good governance and the introduction of a preference system to address certain socio-economic objectives. The procurement reform processes were embedded in section 76(4) (C) of the Public Finance Management Act No 1 of 1999 (PFMA) and the preferential Procurement Policy Framework Act No 5 of 2000 (PPPFA). The public procurement is the function whereby public sector organisations acquire goods, services and development and construction projects from suppliers in the local and international market, subject to the general principle of fairness, equitability, transparency, competitiveness and cost-effectiveness. SCM is an integral part of prudent financial management in the South African public sector management (OGC 2005: 11). According to Hanks, Davies and Perera (2008), SCM operates within a regulatory framework set by the national government and extended by provinces and local government bodies to specific policies, legislation and regulations. The Limpopo Department of Agriculture Vhembe District in Supply Chain Management under Procurement is currently not performing well as compared to the service standards set by the Department; the service standards has placed some measures that should be followed in order to perform accurately in procurement but still the performance is not up to standard. SCM is guided by a number of related policies and regulations (National Treasury, 2005). Compliance with these policies and regulations is a problem. It is clear that if proper procedures for procurement could be followed performance in procurement section might improve and the rendering of service to the community might be easier. 2. PROBLEM STATEMENT The poor performance in supply Chain Management Procurement Section Department of Agriculture Limpopo: Vhembe District.

3. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

3.1 To assess performance of procurement section against the set service standards. 3.2 To develop remedial strategies or guidelines to alleviate non-performance in procurement section in Vhembe District.

4. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

4.1 What is the turn-around time of procurement processes? 4.2 What are the causes of poor performance in Procurement Section Vhembe District? 4.3 What appropriate remedial steps can be developed to alleviate poor performance in Procurement Section Vhembe District?

5. LITERATURE REVIEW

SCM Policy: 2011-2012 states that performance management is a pro-active and re-active (retrospective) process of determining whether objectives and the broader government strategic and operational goals are being met. As such it serves as a management tool. Since the SCM System is an integral part in achieving these objectives, it is necessary that recording, reporting and performance measurement regarding the SCM system must take place. It is therefore essential that the department must establish a system that will be followed accurately. The SCM Unit is responsible to measure Department`s progress regarding the achievement of the goals by using the pre-determined criteria. The results of this measurement must then be included in external and internal reports as prescribed. Consulting Engineers South Africa (CESA): 2010-2013 is appalled at Governments that poor performance in relation to the non-payment of suppliers resulting in many companies in the industry going into liquidation and out of business. Graham Pirie, CEO states, ‘if Government wants to create jobs then this is very poor behaviour”. Key priorities included in President Zuma’s New Growth Path are job creation and improved service delivery. Non- payment is having a serious impact on SA’s ability to deliver infrastructure. It is clear that if Government poor performance is leading companies to liquidation on non-payment of suppliers something must be done urgently to save the country’s jobs. Non –payment on companies is other proof for poor performance in procurement. Many public procurement activities suffer from neglect, lack of direction, poor co-ordination, lack of open competition and transparency, differing levels of corruption and most importantly not having a cadre of trained and qualified procurement specialists, who are competent to conduct and manage such procurements, in a professional, timely and cost effective manner. Inflexible and bureaucratic systems of procurement contribute to unacceptable contract delays, increased costs, the potential for manipulation of contract awards and lack of fair competition, all of which create the perception in the population at large, that public expenditure is slow, ineffective, expensive and often corrupt (Baily et al 2004). It is also clear that poor performance in the Department sometimes is caused by lack of supervisory and lack of transparency. 6. RESEARCH DESIGN The study will be conducted in the Department of Agriculture in Vhembe District in the Limpopo Province. The Department of Agriculture has two categories under procurement section namely; for the orders which are more than R30000.00 and for the orders which are less than R30000.00 for purchases of all goods and services. At least 25% of all orders for over 2 financial years will be randomly selected to assess the turn-around time in order to determine the performance in procurement section against the Departmental service standards in Vhembe District. Vhembe District has got small number of employees under procurement section total number is 14. 25% of 14 employees will be randomly selected for participating in interview. Simple descriptive statistics will be used to describe performance of Procurement section in Vhembe District. Qualitative Research will be used as it is all about exploring issues, understanding phenomena, and answering questions where Procurement for Department of Agriculture in Limpopo Province in its pursuit. Questionnaires will be used to collect data; the questions will include personal information, gender, age, causes of poor performance, status in procurement section, etc. In this study simple descriptive statistics frequencies tables, etc. will be employed to analyse the data.

7. ETHICS STATEMENT

The procurement officials will participate voluntarily. Their names will not be identified in any of the reports.

8. CHAPTER OUTLINE

Chapter 1 Introduction and Background The chapter will be presenting researched problem and its objectives and how the researcher analyse the study as a whole. Chapter 2 Literature Review In this chapter the researcher compares the different writers who researched about the same topic the researcher is busy with, and the overall of both writers should be combined for the final recommendations. Chapter 3 Research Methodology In this chapter the researcher will be discussing on how to improve good quality performance in procurement section or how to alleviate non-performance in procurement section Vhembe District. Chapter 4 Results and Findings. The results and findings of the study will be analysed and evaluated, final results will be sent to the Department of Agriculture Vhembe District.. Chapter 5 Recommendations. The recommendations will be discussed from the study and sent to relevant stakeholder which is Limpopo Department of Agriculture. 9. TIME-LINE

Activities	Weeks & Month	Year
Desktop studies and design Questionnaires	Week 02-4th Jan	2014
Make appointments with procurement officers	Week 5 Jan	2014
Check orders	Week 2-3 February	2014
Data Collection	Week 4-2 Feb-March	2014
Data Analysis	Week 3-4 March	2014
Begin write report	Week 1-2 April	2014
Complete write report	Week 3-4 April	2014
Submit report for editing	Week 1-3 May	2014
Finalise Report	Week 4-5 May	2014
Submit report	Week 2 June	2014

10. BUDGET

ITEM	Activity	Amount	Responsibility
Enumerator	Data collection /interviewing administrators	R 800.00	Researcher*
Editing	Editing proposal by professional editor	R1000.00	Editor
Data Capturer	Capturing data	R 1000.00	Researcher
Stationery	Printing questionnaires	R 700.00	Researcher
Telephone	Communications	R 900.00	Researcher
Transport	Petrol	R 1000.00	Researcher
Computer & Programmes	Data analysis	R 2500.00	Researcher
Total		R 7 ,900.00

*The researcher will be responsible for all the expenses of the study.

11. PRELIMINARY BIBLIOGRAPH

CESA 2010-2013 Government Poor Procurement Performance Hinders Job Creation. [https://www.cesa.co.za/node/201 Date of access: 20 December 2013 [SIGM]Support for Improvement in Governance and Management.[ Public Procurement] Brief 21 Journal of Transport and Supply Chain Management 1 2012 John Karanja Ngugi and Hildah W. Mugo: Internal factors affecting procurement process of supplies in the public sector; a survey of Kenya Government Ministries (Brief 2314)

12. FEASIBILITY

The study will be feasible as the employer gave the researcher permission to conduct research within the government premises. The study will also include employees and they are willing to cooperate in this research. The resources to conduct this research are available, like motor car, funds for petrol and communications. The study will be completed within the time framed by Southern Business School. Page 1

Cite this page