Suchergebnisse

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the transaction costs involved in managing procurement contracts in the public sector, particularly at the lower and higher level of local governments from the clients' perspective.


Design/methodology/approach
The paper uses new institutional economics, specifically the transaction cost approach. A multiple case study design was used, in which five local government authorities (LGAs) were selected from the Kigoma and Tanga regions of Tanzania. Interviews with heads of procurement management units, focus groups and secondary sources were used to collect information for lower level LGAs.


Findings
Very high information, negotiation and monitoring transaction costs were revealed at the post-contractual stage for higher levels of local government in all cases. Transaction costs were associated with institutional problems, lack of financial resources and attitudes towards accountability, transparency and competition. It was also found that lower levels of local government are faced with very high transaction costs for all procurement stages due to a lack of procurement contract management capacity among ward and village procurement project committees, low levels of support from higher level LGAs, a lack of simple Swahili-standardised documents and guidelines for lower level procurement contract management which reflect current legal issues and the lack of a legal framework for procurement at the lower level of local government. These costs are associated with poor accountability and a lack of competition, transparency and efficiency throughout public procurement chains.


Research limitations/implications
There is no estimate for quantitative approaches, because it is was difficult to measure transaction costs associated with accountability, transparency and efficiency.


Originality/value
The paper contributes knowledge on qualitative levels of transaction costs for procurement contract management for both higher and lower levels of LGAs from the clients' viewpoint.

Objective: To assess attitudes toward including small furniture value chains in local government authorities (LGAs) procurement contracts in Tanzania. Methodology: A transaction cost economics theory was used with multiple case study design. Four district executive directors and four small furniture owners were selected purposively. Findings: High transaction costs are experienced by direct actors i.e. both manufactures of furniture and LGAs due to problems associated with furniture manufacturers' characteristics, business capacity, difficulty procedures in public procurement for both pre- and post-contracting stages. Information search costs are high among small furniture value chains participants. Monitoring costs are mainly on waiting time to be paid after delivering furniture among small manufacturers and those associated with small capacity of manufacturers for the case of clients, i.e. LGAs. Upgrading by joining imported furniture and old-fashioned furniture value chains is among the strategies used to reduce both transaction and production costs. Originality: Looks at attitudes toward including local furniture value chains in public procurement contractual process using a transaction costs approach from both potential suppliers and clients. Limitation: Quantitative approaches could not be adopted because there is only a small number of local small-furniture manufacturers participating in public procurement process.

This paper has examined applicable theories on the records and archives management (RAM) in an attempt to use empirical results and findings to explain the RAM practices. The paper had used ten deliberately selected empirical studies on the RAM practices conducted in Tanzania. Results and findings from the examined empirical studies reveals that records life-cycle theory has been dominantly used to study RAM practices in Tanzania; whilst case study methodology being the dominant research design used by most of the examined studies. Empirically, it has been found that RAM practices in Tanzania have been constrained by a number of constraining factors. The identified factors were, inter alia: inadequacy of RAM practices; inexistence of RAM guidelines; inadequate funding over RAM activities; untrained personnel; lack of comprehensive RAM policy; inadequate records storage space, equipment and facilities; and unreformed records and archives management systems. Based on these results and findings it is concluded that theories propounded for the records and archives management could be supplemented by other management theories and philosophies in studying specific issues on the subject matter. It is recommended that RAM needs specialised studies to determine the influence of the constraining factors on the extent of proper management of records and archives in the specialised administration and management fields that need efficient management and care of records.