Publication: An integrated procurement process framework for public sector projects in iraq
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Date
2024-04-01
Authors
Alsamarraie Mundher, Mohammed Saeed
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Abstract
Public procurement is a robust activity encountering enormous challenges that
impede efficient functioning. The procurement process suffered from corruption,
project team disintegration, poor performance, and high-risk issues due to several
obstacles at various stages. This study aimed to uncover the weaknesses in the
procurement process and investigate the barriers to integrating the contracting practice
with the public procurement system. The scope of the study covered the
implementation of the projects in the public sector of Iraq, and the respondents for this
study were the funding bodies, authorities, consultants, contractors, and engineers. The
limitation of the study was in the small number of public sector organizations and its
key projects. Moreover, the study proposed a conceptual model and developed a
detailed framework to lead the integrity of the process and ensure organizational
consistency. The researcher used mixed methods to cover the research objectives and
test hypotheses. From the qualitative analysis, the systematic literature review (SLR)
determined the procurement system's related issues and evaluated organizational
public procurement performance for construction projects. Furthermore, the researcher
conducted a Delphi study by interviewing experts in the field regarding the conceptual
model. The Delphi study continued to identify the advantages and barriers towards
adopting the framework. On the other hand, the quantitative method used a
questionnaire survey to identify the obstacles to integrating the procurement process
and to test the model fit. The data was collected and analyzed using QDA miner, IBM
SPSS, and Amos software. Eventually, the proposed model and the detailed framework witnessed wide acceptance among experts due to the accessibility and simplicity of
developing such a framework in the procurement system in Iraq. This framework
assisted in transitioning from a procedure-based to a knowledge-based organization.
The findings addressed numerous indicators, and the researcher categorized them into
thematic classifications according to their impact on socio-economic, organization
planning, project-related, and operational indicators. In addition, the study
demonstrated the significant effects of Team Collaboration (TC), Process
Disintegration (PD), Corruption Activities (CA), Transparency Issues (TI), Weak
Procurement Performance (WP), Claims and Project Performance (CP), and Risk
Issues (RI) in the procurement system and contracting process. The framework
contributed to reconstructing and developing the procurement process to increase
central decisions and create a healthy environment to introduce more integrated
frameworks. It improved procurement and project performance and supported open
discussion of a project team, effective communication, information exchange, honest
attitudes, and trustful relationships. Moreover, it recommended partial employment of
e-procurement in pre-contracting activities for project effectiveness.