Procurement records compliance, effective risk management and records management performance. Evidence from Ugandan public procuring and disposing entities
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/RMJ-06-2015-0024 |
| Published date | 21 March 2016 |
| Pages | 83-101 |
| Date | 21 March 2016 |
| Author | Ronald Tumuhairwe,Arthur Ahimbisibwe |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information management & governance |
Procurement records
compliance, effective risk
management and records
management performance
Evidence from Ugandan public procuring and
disposing entities
Ronald Tumuhairwe and Arthur Ahimbisibwe
Department of Procurement and Logistics Management,
Makerere University Business School, Kampala, Uganda
Abstract
Purpose – Procurement records are critical for the effective execution of the procurement process and
have been applied as tools to measure compliance and performance of Public Procuring and Disposing
Entities (PDEs) by the regulating authority in Uganda – the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets
Authority (PPDA). However, the state of records in various Ugandan PDEs depicts poor records
management. This situation has adversely affected the effective creation, usage and storage of public
procurement records. This compromises the value and importance of records within the procurement
process, with most documents being unavailable and unreliable. The purpose of this study is to
investigate the relationship between procurement records compliance, effective risk management and
records management performance in Ugandan PDEs.
Design/methodology/approach – The study adopted a quantitative research design and used a
cross-sectional survey. The researchers developed a questionnaire on the study constructs of
procurement records compliance, effective risk management and records management performance
using measurement scales derived from previous empirical studies which were modied to suit the
current study.
Findings – The results indicate quantitative evidence of signicant positive relationships between
procurement records compliance, effective risk management and records management performance.
Findings also reveal that procurement records compliance and effective risk management are
signicant predictors of record management performance. The results also suggest that effective risk
management has a stronger inuence on records management performance than that on procurement
records compliance.
Research limitations/implications – The study context is sub-Saharan Africa, and the ndings
are, therefore, limited to that context; they reect existing knowledge in other contexts. The use of a
standard questionnaire limited the ability to collect views about information outside the questions
asked. The study was only cross-sectional, and the study variables could not be analyzed over a long
time. Common methods bias remains a potential threat; future studies should use different source data.
Practical implications – Custodians of procurement records, that is, procurement ofcers, records
ofcers and accounting ofcers for Ugandan PDEs need to pay special attention to prevailing records
laws and policies to minimize risks associated with the poor management of records, as well as improve
The authors are grateful to Levi B. Kabagambe (PhD), Director, Directorate of Quality Assurance,
Makerere University Business School, Kampala, Uganda, and Joseph M. Ntayi (PhD), Professor,
Department of Management Science, Makerere University Business School, Kampala, Uganda.
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0956-5698.htm
Procurement
records
compliance
83
Received 6 June 2015
Revised 24 August 2015
26 September 2015
4 November 2015
Accepted 12 November 2015
RecordsManagement Journal
Vol.26 No. 1, 2016
pp.83-101
©Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0956-5698
DOI 10.1108/RMJ-06-2015-0024
performance in the management of records creation, storage, retrieval, access and the preservation of
vital records.
Originality/value – The study contributes to an important area which has not been given attention in
the context of sub-Saharan Africa, especially Uganda where there is a difculty of linking the value of
records management to business processes due to a lack of quantitative evidence.
Keywords Procurement, Compliance, Records management, Risk management, PDEs,
Records management performance
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
One of the key ways in which organizations are held accountable for their actions is
through evidence of business transactions in the form of records. International and
national standards, Acts and regulations exist, providing principles or requirements for
managing records (Joseph et al., 2012,Ntayi et al., 2012). Nationally, laws like The
National Records and Archives Act (2001), the Access to Information Act (2005) and the
Public Procurement and Disposal of Public Assets Act (2003),The Local Government
Act (1997), among others, require that public entities keep, maintain and manage
records using the guidelines laid down.
The management of records supports complex decision-making processes within
organizations (Duranti, 2010;Mnjama and Wamukoya, 2007). In Uganda, it is a
requirement that procurement transactions are properly authorized and fully supported
by written records. According to the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets (PPDA)
Act (2003), Part V, Section (1)1), Public Procuring and Disposing Entities (PDEs) should
maintain detailed records of all their proceedings. PPDA Act (2003) is the law that
regulates public sector procurement in Uganda, whereas the PPDA authority is the body
that is mandated to oversee public sector procurement. According to the PPDA Act,
procurement departments are called Procuring and Disposing Units (PDUs), whereas
government self-accounting organizations are referred to as PDEs. The procurement
records management system in Uganda comprises a number of documents created at
various stages within the process. For example, the procurement plan, requisition,
purchase order, specications/terms of reference, tenders documents, correspondences,
minutes of proceedings, notice of contract award and publication and contracts, among
others.
Among the various functions of the PPDA Authority, one is to conduct periodic
inspections of the records and proceedings of the PDEs to ensure full, correct application
of the legal requirements. However, procurement records compliance for Ugandan PDEs
has remained very low (PPDA Authority reports, 2009,2013a,2013b). Compliance is
understood as “the adherence by the regulated to rules and regulations laid down by
those in authority” (Edwards, 2006). In a PPDA Authority (2009) compliance report,
records management was identied as one of the compliance areas that exhibited the
lowest levels of performance. Despite the specic records management requirements
embedded in the various records laws, compliance reports indicate enormous
inconsistencies within PDEs in the area of records management. There was clear
evidence of scattered records on separate les and procurement records kept in different
departments of the PDEs other than the legally obliged procurement departments.
Further, procurement les were found not to contain all the compliance requirements as
provided in the PPDA Authority checklist, as well as some PDEs did not use the
RMJ
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