The Effect of Procurement Audits on Enhancement of Service Delivery

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to examine the effect of procurement audit in enhancing service delivery in Mukono District Local Government. Specifically, the study examined the extent to which bid preparatory process auditing, contract execution auditing and contract completion auditing influences service delivery in Mukono DLG. The study used a cross-sectional survey design using quantitative approach on a population comprising of District procurement officers, procurement committee members, internal auditors, civil servants and political heads, totaling to 52 participants. These were purposively and simple randomly selected. Data was collected using a questionnaire and analyzed quantitatively. The study found out that the bid preparatory process auditing significantly influenced service delivery in local governments of Uganda. There is a significant relationship between bid preparatory process auditing and the service delivery in Mukono DLG (686**). The inference was that the failure by the public procurement audit stakeholders to adequately undertake procurement planning and bid management audits adversely affected service delivery in the local government. It also revealed that procurement contract execution auditing significantly influenced service delivery in local governments of Uganda. There is a significant effect of contract execution auditing and the service delivery in Mukono DLG (342**). The inference was that the failure by the public procurement audit stakeholders to adequately undertake audits on the performance of roles and contract monitoring by those parties in the contract, adversely affected service delivery in the local government. The study also revealed that procurement contract completion auditing significantly influenced service delivery in local governments and the inability by the public procurement audit stakeholders to adequately undertake audits on the attainment of value for money and vendor ratings adversely affected service delivery in the local government. Therefore, there is a significant effect of contract completion auditing on service delivery in Mukono DLG (589**). Basing on the above, it is concluded that procurement audit has an influence in enhancing service delivery in Mukono DLG. The study recommended that to enhance service delivery in local governments of Uganda, the PPDA Authority, MoLG, OAG, in liaison with the local government internal audit function should coordinate their activities through joint work plans to audit procurement planning and bid management processes. This should be complemented with demand for contract managers to perform prompt value for money audits and vendor ratings for all completed contracts and submitting reports to the different local government procurement stakeholders. Training of stakeholders in procurement audits was equally recommended.