Procurement Structures in CARICOM Countries Research Analysis Analysis

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Research Analysis: Procurement Structures in CARICOM CountriesIntroductionPublic procurement management is the management of the processes surrounding the acquisition of services, goods, materials, and services required for efficient running of operations in the public sector (Khan, 2018). Among CARICOM member states, public procurement is governed by the public procurement protocols for the Caribbean community. The CARICOM protocols define public procurement as the acquisition of works, goods, or services by a procuring entity for public use or using public funds (CARICOM Protocols, 2017). In a nutshell, the protocols emphasize the principles of transparency, procedural fairness, value for money, and accountability in public procurement (CARICOM Protocols, 2017).The proposed study sought to examine the current procurement processes in three CARICOM countries and identify the challenges faced in implementing the CARICOM procurement protocols. The overall aim is to identify ways to make the public procurement process in these countries more effective. The study makes use of primary data that was collected through a closed-ended questionnaire. The specific objectives are as follows:· Objective 1: To examine the current procurement structures, in CARICOM member states.· Objective 2: To identify the current trends and challenges facing public procurement and contracting in CARICOM member-states.· Objective 3: To identify potential solutions to the current challenges and how to make public procurement in these countries more responsive and effective.The corresponding null and alternative hypotheses are:Objective 1Ho: There is no difference in the procurement structures of CARICOM member statesHa: There is a difference in the procurement structures of CARICOM member statesObjective 2Ho: There is no difference in the challenges faced by public procurement and contracting officials between CARICOM statesHa: There are significant differences in the challenges faced by public procurement and contracting between CARICOM statesDescriptive Statisticsa) What is the Academic Qualification of Respondents?This segment tries to understand the academic qualification of the 15 respondents. Given differences in the naming and structure of departments across organizations and countries, it may not be possible to obtain descriptive statistics for respondents’current position and department. Thus, the study only summarizes the descriptive statistics for the variable ‘highest academic qualification’. To obtain descriptive statistics, the highest academic qualifications were assigned numerical values as follows: post graduate a value of 3, graduate a value of 2, and high school graduate a value of 1.Table 1 shows the distribution of the respondents as post graduates, graduates and high school graduates of A & B, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago (T&T).Table 1: Table showing academic qualification of the respondentsYour highest qualificationFrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValid1533.333.333.3216.76.740.03960.060.0100.0Total15100100.0MissingSystem00Total15100.0(Source: SPSS Output)Frequency statistics indicate that nine of the respondents (60 percent) have a post-graduate qualification, 1 (6.7 percent) is a graduate, and 5 (33.3 percent) are high school graduates.Table 2: Descriptive Statistics for Highest Academic QualificationStatisticsYour highest qualificationNValid15Missing0Mode3Std. Deviation.961Skewness-.616Std. Error of Skewness.580Kurtosis-1.776Std. Error of Kurtosis1.121(Source: SPSS Output)The analysis in table 2 indicates a mode of 3, implying that post graduates make up the largest share in the sample. The negative skewness value of -.616 indicates that there are relatively fewer observations in the lower end of the distribution (high school and graduate levels), with more values concentrated in the higher end, which is the post-graduate qualifications. This supports the finding that post-graduates make up the biggest share of the sample.The academic qualifications breakdown per country is as shown in Table 2Table 2: Qualifications of Respondents by CountryCountryPost-GraduateGraduateHigh School GraduateTotalGranada4015A&B3025T&T2125Total91515Four of the post-graduate respondents in the sample are from Granada, 3 from A&B, and 2 from T&T. Among the high school graduates, 2 each are drawn from A&B and T&T, while one is from Granada. Thus, Granada accounts for the highest percentage of post-graduate respondents, T&T accounts for the only graduate-level respondent in the sample, while A&B and T&T account for equal shares of high-school level respondents.Empirical Analysis of Procurement Structures across CARICOM member states?To determine whether there are significant differences in countries’ procurement structures, this study will use the chi-square test to check for associations. The chi-square test will indicate whether there is an association between country and the preferred procurement systems, contracting mechanisms, use of electronic procurement systems, and challenges faced in procurement.a) What is the Nature of the National Government Procurement System?Table 3: Cross-Tabulation of Responses on the Nature of the National Government’s Procurement SystemWhat Is your national government’s procurementFrequencyPercentValid PercentCumulative PercentValidCentralized (i.e. the majority of purchasing is the responsibility of a single unit or designated units purchase particular products or services)746.746.746.7Decentralized (i.e. responsibility for procurement is shared between departments)213.313.360Mixed533.333.393.3Outsourced (i.e. a private company carries out procurement on behalf of your National government)16.76.7100.0Total15100.0100.0(Source: SPSS Output)Table 3 indicates that 47 percent of respondents use a centralized procurement system in their countries, where purchasing is done by a single unit or department, or units are designated to purchase particular services or products. 13 percent reported that their countries use a decentralized system, where the procurement role is shared among departments, or departments do procurement for themselves. 33 percent of respondents reported using a mixed system that combines elements of both centralized and decentralized systems, while 7 percent use an outsourced system, where the procurement role is carried out by a private entity on behalf of the national government, leading to a cumulative percentage of 100. Thus, the centralized procurement system is the most popular in the three CARICOM states, followed by the mixed system, the decentralized system, while the outsourced is the least popular procurement system.Results of the cross-tabulation carried out on SPSS comparing country with the procurement system shows the following output:Table 4: Cross Tabulation Results Country versus Procurement SystemCountry * Indicate the procurement and contracting mechanisms provided for, in the regulations of your country; assigning 1 to the most used and 4 to the least used. Degree used (please rank from level 1 to 4) [Public Bidding] * Indicate the procurement and contracting mechanisms provided for, in the regulations of your country; assigning 1 to the most used and 4 to the least used. Degree used (please rank from level 1 to 4) [Private Bidding] CrosstabulationIndicate the procurement and contracting mechanisms provided for, in the regulations of your country; assigning 1 to the most used and 4 to the least used. Degree used (please rank from level 1 to 4) [Private Bidding]: Total Indicate the procurement and contracting mechanisms provided for, in the regulations of your country; assigning 1 to the most used and 4 to the least used. Degree used (please rank from level 1 to 4) [Public Bidding]Total Least UsedMost UsedSecond Least UsedSecond Most Used A&B11035% within Country20.0%20.0%0.0%60.0%100.0% 25.0%20.0%0.0%75.0%10.4%% of Total2.1%2.1%0.0%6.3%10.4%GrenadaCount12115% within Country20.0%40.0%20.0%20.0%100.0% 25.0%40.0%50.0%25.0%10.4%% of Total2.1%4.2%2.1%2.1%10.4%T&TCount22105% within Country40.0%40.0%20.0%0.0%100.0% 50.0%40.0%50.0%0.0%10.4%% of Total4.2%4.2%2.1%0.0%10.4%TotalCount452415% within Country26.7%33.3%13.3%26.7%100.0%Public Bidding100.0%100.0%100.0%100.0%100.0%% of Total26.7%33.3%13.3%26.7%100.0%1Results of cross tabulation indicate that generally, all three countries use a centralized procurement system, while the outsourced system is the least used in all countries. The chi square test results comparing the relationship between country and procurement system is presented in table 5 below.Table 5: Chi Square Test Results Country versus National Government Procurement SystemValueDfAsymp. Sig. (2-sided)Pearson Chi-Square59.794a14.000Likelihood Ratio64.15514.000N of Valid Cases15a. 19 cells (95.0%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .10.(Source:…

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…this study uses this obstacle to test whether there are significant differences in the challenges that CARICOM countries face in sustainable procurement. The summary output from the chi square test is presented in tables 14 and 15 below:Country * In your opinion, what are the barriers to your organization’s procurement processes? (Place 1 next to the barrier that you consider most significant, 2 next to the one you consider to be in second place, and 3 next to any remaining obstacles). [Lack of information]Table 15: Crosstabulation on Procurement Challenges: Lack of InformationIn your opinion, what are the barriers to your organization’s procurement processes? (Place 1 next to the barrier that you consider most significant, 2 next to the one you consider to be in second place, and 3 next to any remaining obstacles).

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[Lack of information]TotalMinor BarrierModerate BarrierSignificant BarrierA&BCount2125Expected Count.5.4.65.0JamaicaCount3025Expected Count.5.4.65.0T&TCount0325Expected Count.5.4.65.0TotalCount54615Expected Count5.04.06.015.0Table 16: Chi-Square Test Results on Barriers to Procurement Processes: Lack of InformationValuedfAsymp. Sig. (2-sided)Pearson Chi-Square68.160a9.000Likelihood Ratio68.1719.000N of Valid Cases15a. 15 cells (93.8%) have expected count less than 5. The minimum expected count is .42.(Source: SPSS Output)Interpretation: The cross tabulation results indicate that generally, lack of information is a significant barrier to procurement across CARICOM states. The chi-square result of 68.16 indicates that more countries consider lack of information as the most significant barrier than would be expected if the null hypothesis were true. The differences across countries are significant as indicated by the .000 significance value, which is lower than the .05 confidence level. Thus, we reject the null hypothesis, which argues that there are no differences in the challenges of procurement management across CARICOM countries. The conclusion, therefore, is that there are significant differences in the challenges that CARICOM countries face in procurement.Generally, the results indicate that there are significant differences in CARICOM countries’ procurement structures on all four dimensions: national procurement systems, most preferred contracting mechanism, use of electronic procurement systems, and challenges in implementing sustainable procurement. Thus, it is prudent that CARICOM focuses on ensuring more standardization in procurement across member countries as a means to increase efficiency.RecommendationsThe most significant solution is to enhance the technical capabilities of national procurement departments to make them better able to carry out effective sustainable procurement. Further, given that the lack of information emerges as the most significant obstacle to effective procurement in these countries, it may be beneficial to invest in information systems geared at increasing knowhow on green procurement among procurement officers in national departments across the countries. As Allal-Cheriff (2012) points out, “information systems can provide support services and stimulate and disseminate sustainable purchasing policies” (p. 1). This could be complemented with continuous training and education on green procurement (Rais, 2018).Finally, it may be beneficial for CARICOM countries to encourage more member countries to move from the current centralized procurement system to a mixed system. A procurement system that is fully centralized creates cost savings in in both purchase and process costs as the procurement departments enjoys economies of scale (Chiappinelli, 2019). However, a fully centralized system may not adequately respond to specific local needs, such as the need for sustainable procurement unique to each department, which are available in a decentralized system. (Chiappinelli, 2019). A mixed procurement system would make it possible to reap the benefits of both centralized and decentralized systems (Chiappinelli, 2019). For maximum efficacy, centralized procurement could be adopted for standardized goods, while decentralization could be used for less standardized goods such as infrastructure, which may be unique to a department’s specific needs (Chiappinelli, 2019)......

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