Investigation of factors influencing non-compliance with procurement practices : a case study of head office supply chain management directorate and hospitals within eThekwini District, KwaZulu-Natal

Abstract

Regardless of the reforms and the employment of Supply Chain Management (SCM) as a strategic tool, South Africa still faces immense challenges in its procurement practices. Non-compliance with public procurement guidelines cannot be ignored because it has a significant cost to the government and the public as taxpayers. This study investigated the factors influencing non-compliance with procurement practices within the Kwa-Zulu Natal Department of Health. The Auditor General’s reports for the financial year 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 confirmed that this Department had received qualified audit opinions for two consecutive years for incurring irregular expenditure on procurement and contract management following non-compliance with procurement guidelines. A mixed-method of data collection was employed on this study to gather information from the relevant decision makers including officials in finance and SCM components. The results of this study demonstrated that unavailability of SCM staffing norms, shortage of staff, lack of supervision, shortage of skills, unavailability of E-procurement system, and negligence are major determinants for non-compliance. These findings have relevance for the Kwa-Zulu Natal Department of Health and also for the South African Public Sector as it strives to achieve clean audits on procurement and contract management. Furthermore, this study acknowledges the policies and the guidelines on public procurement and contract management. However, it argues that policies and guidelines alone cannot prevent irregular expenditure. Public procurement and contract management policies and guidelines need to be complemented by human resources, appropriate skills, updated technologies, implementation of consequences management, and monitoring and evaluation. Furthermore, this study presented the researcher’s proposed model for addressing non-compliance with procurement and contract management policies, as shown in Figure 4.2. Moreover, this model could play a crucial role in reviving and supplementing the public procurement and contracting objectives thus enhancing compliance.