Assessment of The Public Procurement Act 2003 (Act663) on Project Time Performance of Construction Projects in Ghana

Abstract

ABSTRACT

Contracts for both works and consultancy services take very lengthy periods to reach financial closure and are subject to unnecessary delays. The aim of the study is to investigate the effect of the Public Procurement Act (Act663) on the time performance of project delivery in Ghana. The objectives are to: (1) identify factors that define projects’ time performance; (2) identify specific relations between the aforementioned factors  and the Public Procurement Act 2003 (Act 663); (3) identify the critical factors affecting time performance at the pre-contract stage of public procurement, and (4) identify the bottleneck in the public procurement Act that hinders project time performance. A survey was conducted among two hundred and twenty-five (225) members of tender committees and tender review boards in the twenty (20) districts in the Central Region. The checklist and rating scale were adopted for designing the questionnaire. A content analysis was conducted to identify the statutory time requirements for the pre-contract procurement stage activities. Eight factors that define time performance were identified from the findings. However, two exceeded the maximum period expected by the Act. Post Review / Evaluation Tender Committee, followed by Tender Evaluation and Report Submission, were perceived as the factors whose durations are most unstable and hence frequently affect project time performance at the procurement stage of a project.  It was concluded that longer periods should be used by approving authorities when reviewing and approving reports.

Keywords: Assessment; Public; Procurement; Project; Timely