Analysis of the administration of procurement practices in the South African public sector

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to analyse the administration of procurement practices in the South African public sector. Ethical procurement practices prohibit breach of the public’s trust by discouraging unethical practices. While the objectives of government are to have positive procurement, practices that are world best practices, there are also negative practices that makes it difficult for the administration of public procurement practices. Owing to the complexity, size and high volumes of financial flow, close transactional relations between public and private sectors public procurement is mostly vulnerable to unethical procurement practices and non-compliance with procurement legislation. The problem is that, there is a distinct inadequacy of documented academic research to procurement practices, and so is the marred unethical practices. Without doubt, a limited knowledge regarding the nature, size and extent of unethical procurement practices prevails. The objective of the study is to analyse the administration of procurement practices, explore the extent, size, nature, the manifestation of unethical procurement practices and to propose a public procurement framework. The triangulation approach of qualitative research method guided the study. The research design used in the study is an exploratory one with a focus on a multiple case study of seven randomly selected national departments categorised under government guide on clusters “the social protection, community and human development government cluster” The South African public sector has challenges with regard to the administration of procurement practices in national departments. Despite government codes of conducts mechanisms and policies developed, there seems to be a manifestation of unethical procurement practices. Based on the key findings, the study proposed a Public-Sector Procurement Governance Framework that will be anchored by governance structures, infrastructural tools, and effective systems underpinned by a center-led action network.