CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Introduction
This chapter presents the summary, conclusion of the study and recommendations for actions
and future research directions. It was drawn from the findings and the analysis which were
made after conducting the study. This study to establish the factors affecting Procurement
performance in county governments; A case study of Kenya Ports Authority. The aspect of
procurement performances that were studied are; Information technology, Staff’s expertise
and Resource allocation. This chapter summarizes the findings of the study and makes
conclusions upon which recommendations are drawn. Suggestions for further study are also
captured as a way of filling the gaps identified in the study.
5.2. Preliminary Findings
The general objective of the study was to investigate the factors affecting procurement
performance at Kenya Ports Authority. The findings of the study revealed that mergers
influenced Kenya Ports Authority procurement performance positively. These findings were
supported by the frequencies of the responses from the respondents which were presented in
the form of percentages and mean scores. Further the findings were supported by the
coefficient of determination (R square = 0.658). This shows that 65% of variations in
procurement performance are explained by information technology, staffs procurement
expertise and resource allocation.
5.3 Summary
The summary of the study findings are presented below as per the study objectives.

5.3.1Effects of Information technology on procurement performance

The first objective of the study was to set to examine the effect of Information technology on
procurement performance at Kenya Ports Authority. The findings revealed that Information
technology has a positive influence on procurement performance at Kenya Ports Authority.
This finding is supported by the coefficient of determination which shows that the variations
in procurement performance are explained by Information technology. The analysis produced
results with an overall mean score of 3.74 which showed that majority of the respondent’s
concurred that Information technology on procurement performance had a coefficient of
0.496, meaning that Information technology influences procurement performance at Kenya
Ports Authority by 50%.
The researcher established that the Kenya Ports Authority is hindered by lack of e-
procurement methods, lack of automated procurement systems, lack of supportive ICT
infrastructure and absence of ICT skills amongst procurement staff as indicated by the
respondents, this was clearly elaborated from the findings which showed that majority of the
respondents were not agreement with the issue that e-procurement methods affects
procurement planning in the county government.
5.3.2 Effect of Procurement staffs expertise on Procurement performance
The second objective of the study was to determine the effect of Procurement staffs expertise
on Procurement performance at Kenya Ports Authority. The results showed that Procurement
staffs expertise practices have a moderate influence on procurement performance at Kenya
Ports Authority. The analysis produced results with an overall mean score of 3.92 which
showed that majority of the respondents supported contribution of Procurement staffs
expertise on Procurement performance and had a coefficient of 0.451, meaning that
Procurement staffs expertise influences procurement performance at Kenya Ports Authority
by 45%.
The findings indicated that the county government conduct staff training on the procurement
performances, competency of staff a much needed requirement to guarantee effective
procurement performances. This implies that procurement staffs need training, particularly in
how to resolve dilemmas and completing priorities.
5.3.3 Effect of Resource allocation on procurement performance
The third objective of the study was to establish effect of Resource allocation on procurement
performance at Kenya Ports Authority. Majority of the respondents agreed that Resource
allocation had a negative influence on procurement performance at Kenya Ports Authority.
Resource allocation had an overall mean score of 4.32 meaning that majority of the
respondent agreed that Resource allocation influences procurement performance and has a
coefficient of 0.357 meaning it influences procurement performance at Kenya Ports Authority
by 36%. From the findings majority of the respondents were in agreement that spending
analysis considered to before embarking on procurement plan implementation in the county.
They interpreted that Spend analysis is one of the crucial elements necessary for an effective
procurement plan in the Kenya Ports Authority.
5.3.4 Factors affecting the performance of the procurement performance
The findings presented also shows that taking all other independent variables at zero, a unit
increase in Information technology will lead to a 0.496 increase in the scores of Procurement
performance; a unit increase in Staff’s expertise will lead to a 0.451 increase in Procurement
performance; a unit increase in Resource allocation will lead to a 0.357 increase in the scores
of Procurement performance. This therefore implies that all the three variables have a
positive relationship with Staff’s expertise contributing most to the dependent variable.
This therefore implies that all the three variables have a positive relationship with
Procurement performance with strategic alliance contributing most to the dependent variable.
From the table we can see that the predictor variables of Information technology, Staff’s
expertise and Resource allocation got variable coefficients statistically significant since their
p-values are less than the common alpha level of 0.05
5.4 Conclusions
On determinants of information technology the researcher concluded that that integration of
procurement functions with ICT has enabled many public training institutions to improve the
level of effectiveness in the execution of procurement practices. A possible solution to the
lack of proper procurement performances in county governments could be in e-procurement.
The European Commission (2014) defines e-procurement as the use of electronic
communication and transaction processing by government institutions and other public sector
organizations when buying supplies and services or tendering for public works.

On procurement expertise the study concluded that Staff require necessary skills and
experience to carry out procurements effectively and that the staff competency influence
procurement plans to a large extent in Kenya Ports Authority. Procurement staff competency
affect procurement plans both for procurement unit and to the whole nation in the sense that
experienced staff carry out duties in a professional manner and reduce wastage of resources.
Effective and efficient procurement process can only be achieved by proper planning by
competent staff else there would be flaws in the process.

On resource allocation determinants it was concluded that Spend analysis is one of the crucial
elements necessary for an effective procurement plan in the Kenya Ports Authority. After
undertaking a market analysis to understand the market in general in relation to your needs,
there is a need to analyse how goods, services and works had been historically procured by
the organization. The two pieces of information help in identifying the needs of an
organization that form the procurement plan.

Finally the study objective was met and clear relationship between the variables was
determined and tested.
5.5 Recommendations
This study recommends that the Kenya Ports Authority should be organizing workshops and
trainings for procurement officers in order to improve their skills and knowledge, while
employing they should ensure key competencies and experiences are put into consideration.
The Kenya Ports Authority should also put in place measures to prevent unethical behaviours
which are costly to the firm.

The Policy makers should make a critical review on procurement guidelines, policies and
procedures in order to have efficient and effective on their procurement performance.

The study recommends that plans are not static and that preparation of annual procurement
plans should be participatory, frequently reviewed so as to improve on the Kenya Ports
Authority’s procurement performance. Equally, management of the procurement process
should be administered by qualified, competent and experienced procurement professionals.

This will not only help maintain good procurement standards but also will help achieve high
levels of efficiency and effectiveness. In addition, to avoid delays in supply and provision of
services, timelines have to be respected since most projects would have overruns.

5.6 Suggestion for future research

A study should also be carried out to establish the challenges faced while carrying out
procurement plans in both the public and private sector. This study could be further
developed by including more independent variables to the model and increasing the sample
size.