Geoffrey, Thanks for your intellectual insight and value addition to procurement and Logistics operations in this Country.There are various factors affecting value for money principle and one of it is what you have pointed out as Supplier influence in terms of gifts,or others that you generally term"KITU KIDOGO"which un professional staff use as basis for evaluation thus determining award of contract.I also support your view of technical skills/expertise and experience gap where many find themselves in those positions just because they know how to BUY rather knowing how to PROCURE.The skill/knowledge gap is partly because many took procurement and Logistics management as a course unit to major in where some key frame work course units are ommitted but not as a full Institutional programme in their studies where one is guided in all the key aspects procurement and logistics operations hence creating that gap that results into' MUDA'(waste) in the out put of these persons whom i might some times not call professionals may be borrow your word of terming them as professionals in making. In such a situation supplier performance is not measured based on the organisational professional Ethical codes rather on what a supplier has in return and it becomes in most cases difficult to develop suppliers because the relevant advice that should have been openly and uniformly given to these providers is compromised. The value for money stance is tranverse though your case point is Local Government.True there are more challenges in Local Government procurement system than private organisations which includes the major being Influence peddling be it political or otherwise where the professional decision making becomes a mystery possibly because one has to satisfy the interests of those who enabled them to get the job(s) or satisfy the interests of theirr supervisor,councillors,RDC, MP,Minister or political party(ies).Let me give you a case senario that happened in one of the Districts where 4 class room blocks were allocated for some County and immediately the budget was approved before even placing bid notice the procurement Officer was called by the RDC and instructed to select a company that is affliated to a particular party and as he left the RDC's Office the Chief Administrative Officer called him of whom he had in mind to select from but before commending he gave him names of companies to select from and as he approached his office on his way back there were 3 councillors waiting to see him over the same project and before he could talk to them the area MP called him giving some names of his voters who have interest in the same project and that he had discussed this with the relevant minister and some technocrats from state house,with all these pressure piling the poor man resigned. Procurement information flow in local Government should not an issue because Public Procurement and Disposal of Publuic Assets Authority(PPDA) circulates the relevant procedures,policies,guide line,forms to all the districts or can be accessed on line so the gap could be what to use when,where and how that eventually goes back to quality and capabilty of the professional employed,for it is not like in private sector where the procurement professional takes lead in developing procurement plans,procurement manuals and designs, with approval from relevant authorities the relevant forms to use in the entire process,these are at finger tips in Government circles. Well it calls for adherance to the procurement principles as well as lean managent factors incorporated amoung other factors that value addition is achieved thus eradicating muda hence promoting professional Ethical behaviour in procurement and logistics operations. --- On Mon, 6/27/11, false <ikog...@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: false <ikog...@yahoo.com> Subject: [WestNileNet] Observing Value for Money as Procurement Professionals To: westnilenet@kym.net Date: Monday, June 27, 2011, 2:08 PM Observing Value for Money as Procurement Professional local in governments of Uganda incase point (By Ayikobua Geoffrey) As a procurement professional, you have a lot of decision-making authority and influence over how quite a bit of money is spent. While most business dealings proceed legally and with integrity, it is not uncommon for suppliers to approach or cross an ethical line when trying to win your business. Something which is common in local Government of Uganda, Truly strategic supplier management program will be based on supplier performance metrics that relate to the key performance indicators of the overall organization. But it is not uncommon for an organization's information systems and processes to lack the ability to make those metrics readily available. If such is the case, is it impossible to use those metrics? Unfortunately, some unsuspecting and/or inexperienced in the Names of ‘procurement professionals’ do not recognize situations that are inappropriate and, as a result, end up making or contributing to decisions that are questionable at best, unethical or even illegal at worst. When procurement professionals step outside of these not-so-obvious ethical boundaries, bad things can happen including the loss of one's integrity, the loss of one's job, or even the loss of one's freedom (i.e., being put in jail)like, the saga of “CHOGM BENZ” For instances Metrics such as customer satisfaction, on-time delivery, and even quality could be suggested to generate or create more transparent proceedings of such articles by having internal people answer questionnaires on a regular basis," accordingly. However, relying on internal stakeholders as your source for supplier management metrics has its challenges one challenge is getting enough participation. Often characterized by ‘kitu Kidogo’ the kick backs for influencing tender board decisions of awarding contracts to such persons who don’t parse meet the required standards of solicitation documents. Having stakeholders’ rate suppliers "takes their time, so it has to be made very easy." This often makes ‘the professionals in making’ to forget the feed back of bidding process/proceedings. "People have to understand why it's important to participate and give their feedback on supplier performance."… To be continued… On westnilenet@kym.net -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________ WestNileNet mailing list WestNileNet@kym.net http://orion.kym.net/mailman/listinfo/westnilenet WestNileNet is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ All Archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com/westnilenet@kym.net/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. _______________________________________________
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