Abstract:
Fast growth of internet and innovation brought about diffusion in the 1990s of the eprocurement
systems and popularity gain in 2000s which is progressively replacing the
manual procurement process. Tanzania currently applies the new system of procurement as a
requirement that all government entities should adopt due to the reviewed weaknesses like
low achievement of value for money and spend analysis challenge in the traditional system of
procurement. This calls to the attention on works procurement given the complexity nature of
the activities and Tanzania being a developing nation. The study therefore investigated the
effectiveness of e-procurement in addressing the traditional procurement challenges in works
procurement focusing on the clients’ perspectives. A survey research design was adopted. The
study derived data from questionnaires and interviews, involving 21 questionnaire
respondents and 5 semi structured interviews both done with heads of Procurement
Management Units (PMUs). Content analysis was used to analyze interview questions while
SPSS (20) was used in analyzing questionnaire responses. Findings indicate the level of
implementation of e-procurement in works procurement is high with a total average mean
score of 4.02. Uploading of tender document online, online submission and e-advertisement
for e-tendering are the highest ranked applied procedures while approval notification of award
and signing of contract along with online tender opening are the lowest ranked applied
procedures. Results show that the system has effectively addressed the challenges in the
traditional system of procurement with an average mean score of 4.20 in which the most
addressed challenges were spend analysis, fraud and corruption in tendering stage, and fraud
and corruption in post award phase. The least addressed challenges being fraud and corruption
in pre-tendering stage and time consuming. However, the study recommends use of stable
internet and electricity and stability of TANEPs by the system administrators. The study
concludes that the challenges in the traditional system are highly addressed in the electronic
system therefore being more effective in comparison to the traditional system, but needs some
improvement with the internet stability. Also, stability with the system itself (TANEPs) and
frequent trainings to the users of the system.
