THE LEVEL OF COMPLIANCE WITH THE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT ACT (ACT 663) IN GHANA

misbe2011 Tracking Number 249

Abstract The Public Procurement Act (Act 663) 2003 was introduced in Ghana to streamline the anomalies in public procurement. The objective of the law is to promote fairness, transparency and ensure that public procurement is non-discriminatory. The implementation of the Public Procurement Act 2003 (PPA) has been quiet challenging coupled with a number of inefficiencies. The aim of this study is to observe and compare the extent to which selected public procurement entities have complied with the processes and requirements of the Law during the year 2008. The entities were chosen from the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo regions of Ghana. Structured questionnaire and face-to-face interviews were used to obtain data for this study. The overall compliance levels in the Ashanti and Brong Ahafo Regions lies at 19.58% and 17.8% respectively. This indicates low compliance levels of public entities. The study confirms that the Public Procurement Act 2003 (Act 663) is observed to proffer solutions but not without challenges. In the pursuit to improve compliance with the Act the study recommends that public entities recruit procurement personnel and organize intensive and regular procurement training for the personnel handling public procurement especially in the area of procurement processes. Keywords: Ghana, Public Entities, Public Procurement, Public Procurement Act, Compliance.