EFFECT OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT ACT 2007 ON OUTSOURCING DECISIONS OF PUBLIC SECTOR ORGANIZATIONS IN NIGERIA (1998-2015)

ABSTRACT

The public service has been confronted with a lot of inefficiencies, corruption, excessive bureau critic bottlenecks, complacency, mismanagement of resources and inability to embrace transparency and accountability in the outsourcing decisions of public sector organizations in Nigeria. Consequently, this study assessed the effect of Public Procurement Act 2007 on outsourcing decisions of public sector organizations with a focus on Nigerian Government Ministries. This study adopted cross-sectional analysis of Nigerian Government Ministries as at 31^st December 2015, for a period of eighteen years (1998-2015). This allows for comparison of the pre government reform policy for a period of nine years (1998-2006) and post government reform policy for nine years period (2007-2015) among the government ministries considered in this study. Twenty five ministries which made up the Nigerian Government Ministries were all selected for this study. Panel Data were employed in this study. The researcher made use of Ex-post facto research design in conducting the research. The study made use of secondary data obtained from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistical bulletin, Federal Ministry of Finance and Budget Office of the Federation as at 31st December 2015. The relevant data obtained were subjected to statistical analysis using E-view 9.0. Correlation co-efficient, regression analysis and Chow test were employed to analyse the data that were collected and testing the hypotheses that were formulated. The results of this study revealed that Public Procurement Act 2007 has a significant impact on outsourcing decisions of public sector organizations in Nigeria. The researcher recommends that cost analysis and risk analysis should be carried out in order to evaluate the external capabilities with internal capabilities, so as to realize the full benefits of outsourcing in Nigeria.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1              BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Outsourcing has become a global and common practice in most industrialized nations of the world, unprofitable ventures must be eliminated, more efficient ways of doing business must be encouraged and the issues of productivity and profitability must not be overlooked; (Jenson & Stone 2014) both in public institutions and private organizations. The first organization to embark on serious outsourcing arrangement in Nigeria was United African Company Nigeria (UACN) in early 80s when the company outsourced its food division that resulted to the sack and retirement of more than 800 workers all over the country. Again, in the United States of America (USA), American Express Company outsourced the processing of customers bills for payment to the United States Postal Services, that was in 1997 because, the U.S. Postal Services monopolized the first class mail delivery Raiborn, Barfield & Kinney (1999). There are some other companies such as McDonnell Douglas who contracted out all of its computer and telephone services to International Business Machines (IBM) and Business land. British Petroleum (BP) outsourced her Divisional Finance Department (DFD) to Arthur Anderson, (An International Accounting Firm), Mobil Oil also contracted out refinery maintenance and American Telecommunication and Telegraph (AT&T) outsourced its credit-card processing. Pitney Bowes, Xerox, and Ameriscribe contracted with U.S. business of all sizes of copying, faxing and mailroom facilities (Prager 1994).

Institutions all over the world, be it public or private, are embarking on new approaches that would enable them reduce cost of doing business, in particular overhead cost, so as to pay adequate attention to the areas they have more comparative advantage that would create more opportunities for the institutions in view of high productivity, return on investment, payment of dividends to the shareholders, better remuneration to their workers and other welfare packages and the discharge of her social responsibilities to their host communities. As a result of the above, public sector management has undergone and has continued to undergo reform processes from time to time, even in the less industrialized nations of the world such as Nigeria. It has introduced some reforms on every aspect of her economy and public institutions. It is true that before this time, government was having the sole monopoly for the provision of some services; the reforms further brought the idea of privatization and

commercialization of some public institutions and the Public, Private Partnership (PPP) arrangement which is even on-going now. Hence, there is a shift by the government from the usual purchases of goods and services and procurement of materials by accounting officers without a limit to the idea of competitive tendering and outsourcing for procurement of goods and services which can be called outsourcing. Outsourcing in developed countries is a strategy which reduces waste, allows for competitiveness, more efficient and effective ways of running both private and public institutions for the benefit of the stakeholders.

The computer and information technology have made the world a global village; the present era of global competitiveness allows the public institutions to concentrate on their core competencies and areas they have comparative advantage over other institutions. Their core competencies are those productive activities which earns them competitive advantage over others. What this means, is that organizations/institutions now concentrate on the production of the product/service component in which they have a higher degree of proficiency than their competitors. Raiborn, Barfield & Kinney (1999) state that, the core competencies are roots of competitiveness and competitive advantage. Organizations produce in-house those goods or services they could only produce at a much efficient and effective means and should contract out those goods and services they could only produce at a higher cost (Prager 1994). While Organizations explore their core competencies, non-core competencies are outsourced. Outsourcing is the procurement of work/goods/ services from outside of the organization rather than from within. By outsourcing non-core activities such as security services, canteen services, haulage services and so on. So that the organization can concentrate on their core areas of activities and become more proficient in them, render their services at a cheaper rate than their competitors. Outsourcing has become a household name in business and very significant in the management of the material and the financial resources of any organization all over the world. Apart from enabling companies and institutions in some competitive advantage, researchers such as Griffith & Figgis (1998) and (Bragg, 2006) identify cost reduction, increased efficiency, enhanced accountability, access to better skills, professionalism and technology, lower level of capital investment, and performance improvement as reasons why outsourcing is significant. In Nigeria, outsourcing is also the issue of the day, for example, Famafirm (a business process outsourcing firm and legal experts in brief writing), provides legal outsourcing services to law firms in Nigeria and companies in Commonwealth Countries.

The National Mail Transportation (NMT) is outsourced to private transport companies in the National Mail Route Network (NMRN). Some States in Nigeria outsourced revenue collection to private companies Sansui (2008). There are now private sector participation into virtually all processes and operations of the Nigerian Postal Services (NIPOST) which has brought remarkable improvement on the organization since the year 2000 Chigbu (2005). In the public sector, which is the main focus of this study; outsourcing has become a means of contracting out to both private sectors firm and public institutions the responsibility for the function or process for which the government remains accountable (Hunter & Healy 2001). In different countries of the world, the government has made the private sector to become active participant in the production of public goods and services through outsourcing. Outsourcing is not new but what is actually new is the discovery of outsourcing as a useful tool that enables governments’ world over in the management of their finances (Gariffith & Figgis 1997). Governments across the globe have shifted from the usual processing of goods and services from the private sector to the wholesale use of competitive tendering and outsourcing as a management tool for economic and financial reforms in the public sector institutions.

Open competitive tendering is a transparent process of inviting supplier‟s bids from the public, and selecting suppliers based on their technical and financial proficiency. These are some of the good reasons for outsourcing in the public sector. They include; cost savings and budget control (Jumoh & Wood 2002) budget pressure and demand for improved service delivery, Jonas (1994) increased expectations of services provided by the government agencies, increased pressure to improve efficiency, and reduction in operational cost due to budget or legislative constraint, (Loof 1996) Koch, Dell, & Keller (2004) in their study of human resource outsourcing in public sector, identify cost saving, avoidance of capital outlay and turning fixed cost into a variable one as three basic financial drivers of outsourcing while (Hunter & Healy 2001) recognize global fiscal pressure, and increased demand for government services with much reduced financial base as what drove governments into deploying outsourcing as a solution. By outsourcing, according to (Prager 1994) government authorities can avoid some bureaucratic barriers and focus on their most critical operations, and relegate the remaining operations to contractors. However, outsourcing is not without its risks which include loss of control, over dependence on supplier, loss of privacy, and quality reduction (Griffith & Figgis 1998) (Raiborn, Barfield & Kinney 1999) Bragg (2006). Both private and public sector Organizations will enjoy immense benefits in outsourcing some of their goods and services.

A range of activities are being contracted out in the Western Countries. They include building and equipment maintenance, cleaning, catering, prison management, information technology, telecommunications, waste management, mail services, printing, training, legal services, security, and a host of others. However, the commonly outsourced services by the public sector include garbage collection, like Botswana have contracted out a number of services such as maintenance, security, non-clinical health services, cleaning, laundry, catering, and billing, Russell (1997) in Amoako (2003). The Federal Government of Nigeria in year 2004 embarked on various reform initiatives which are expected to usher in transparency, effectiveness, efficiency, cost reduction, and value-for money delivery in public expenditure Obasanjo (2004). The most relevant reforms to the study are the public service reform which downsized the number of public servants through outsourcing. Adegoroye (2006) asserted that the Public Procurement Reform which monitors the procurement processes (through competitive tendering) of government ministries, parastatals, agencies and extra ministerial bodies, we are we are yet to see the application of the laws to ensure the rejection of all bids at the time prior to the acceptance of a bid, without incurring any liability to the bidders and cancel the procurement proceedings in the public interest as demanded by the public procurement Act.

These reforms are sequel to a World Bank’s Report on “Nigeria Country Procurement Assessment” which identified so many weaknesses in the procurement system. An earlier report on “Restructuring Urban Infrastructure in Nigeria” found that one of the reasons why Nigeria’s infrastructural facilities were crumbling was because the private sector was excluded from provision of such. The report noted that, water supply, sewerage, sanitation, drainage, roads, electricity, waste disposal, all suffer from years of serious neglects and routine maintenance on them was almost zero (World Bank Reports, 1996 -2000). Through these reform initiatives, services such as security, cleaning, catering, laundering in hospitals, consultancy, maintenance and others are being outsourced through competitive tendering by some public sector organizations. The success of this program depends on a number of things but most essential on how outsourcing decisions are made and the decisions are based on the information available concerning outsourcing laws of a particular country.

Successful outsourcing and competitive tendering requires a great deal of work and preparation. The contracting agency must consider in detail what is appropriate for outsourcing, what is hoped to be achieved, the existing costs of providing the service, the potential cost savings, and cost involved in outsourcing (Griffith & Figgis 1997) This consideration involves a great deal of financial analysis which should be provided by

management accounting information system, and a lot of decision making by managers. Therefore the system of organization must be such that is capable of providing the required information within the available time to the right level of decision makers Ward (1992). The information must be adequate, timely and relevant, and must be such that would guide managers in their decisions as to whether to outsource or not, planning for the outsourcing, selection of vendors, and implementation and performance evaluation of outsourced contract. Using outsourcing as a success driver such decisions on whether outsourcing is the best option; what the alternative causes of action are; whether contracting out will prove even more costly than inefficiency of government operations on specific services; are very crucial in any reform process. Prager (1994) states that, some government operations are more amenable to contracting out than others. Such crucial decisions require crucial information.

Decision making is one of the basic functions of management in any organization whether public or private (Garrison & Noreen 2000). It is an integral part of management process in every organization Rowthorn (2014) decision making involves a choice between alternative cause of actions and decision makers need information on which to base their choice Lucey (2002). It was of the decision making of the founding Fathers of Nigeria after the Constitutional Conference held in May/June 1957 to enact an appropriate law concerning the financial authority and regulations of the federal resources. It was decided that certain basic financial principles should be embodied in the constitution rather to be left to the discretion of the legislature. This was a provision which previously enabled the Minister of Finance to issue a financial warrant under the Finance (Control and Management) Act and has now been transferred to Section 82 of 1999 Constitution by the provisions of the Finance (Control and Management) Act 1958 as amended to date, the Accountant General of the Federation shall issue from time to time Financial Regulations, Accounting Code, Audit Guide and Accounting Manuals to be followed by Accounting Officers and other employees of each ministry and all matters relating to the financial and accounting affairs of the federation which are not by law assigned to any other accounting regulations and laws. Research efforts by Western Countries have shown the evidence that cost savings objectives of outsourcing is being realized. For instance, a review of Sixteen (16) competitive outsourcing initiatives in the U.S. Center for National Analysis showed the average savings of 24% over baseline cost, and 34% taking into account the value of service improvement (Hunter & Healy 2001).

Still in the United States of America, outsourcing is said to be bringing down prices for firms and families and that leads directly to high standards of living and more jobs in a growing economy Kame, Schaeferd, Acostafraser (2004). Australia Government which embarked on the reform program in 1996 has achieved a core saving of 30% by the year 2004 (Koch, Dell &Keller 2004). In the United Kingdom, almost one-fifth of public sector services are delivered through outsourcing to private and voluntary bodies Mcdonnell (2005). In 2007, the UK public sector was to outsource €20billion worth of the services which represented a growth of 50% over the previous 3years Hart (2007). Enormous literature on outsourcing in the public sector exists in the Western Countries such as United Kingdom, Unites States of America, New Zealand; (Hunter & Healy 2001). However, in Nigeria, there is general dearth of literature on outsourcing in the public sector. Moreover, literature on Effect of Public Procurement Act 2007 on Outsourcing Decision Making is unavailable to the best of researcher’s knowledge. The work done by Sciulli (2004). On the use of management accounting information to support contracting out decision making is predicated on the U.S. environment, the work concentrated on the qualitative management accounting information and failed on the quantitative information test. A research initiative in outsourcing in Nigeria is required to evaluate the relevant financial regulations and their effect on outsourcing decisions in the Nigerian public sector. Therefore the problem of this study is to ascertain the effect of the Public Procurement Act 2007 on the Outsourcing Decision Making of Selected Public Sector Organization

1.2              STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

Outsourcing is not new in Nigeria, but the ways and manners in which it was being conducted lacked the best international practices, hence the enactment by the National Assembly the Procurement Act 2007 which took into consideration those factors that would make outsourcing to be integrity driven, efficient and profitable to the Nigeria Nation. Such factors as, procurement plans, lowest evaluated responsive bid, sufficient fund in the annual budget of the public sector organization, open competitive bidding, economy or reduction of wastages and ethical business practices by the vendors and public sector managers. The dynamics of outsourcing requires also that attention must be given for outsourcing plans, selection of tenders, consideration for comparative advantage, recognition of core competencies and expertise in outsourcing cost consideration, various outsourcing prices and the likely outsourcing benefits which would make the venture a worthwhile project.

The Public Procurement Act 2007 is the guiding principle that specifies actions to be taken without going into the details of such actions, particularly in the area of public procurement and outsourcing decision making. The public service has been confronted with a lot of inefficiencies, corruption, excessive bureaucratic bottlenecks, complacency, mismanagement of resources and inability to embrace cost savings in outsourcing.

The oil boom of 1980‟s and the inability of the Nigerian Government to manage the situation successfully made the citizens to demand for greater efficiency, accountability, integrity and transparency in government operations and cost minimization in the delivering of public services by public sector institutions. For instance, the Structural Adjustment Program (SAP), introduced in 1988 for the rationalization of the public sector through privatization and commercialization of some agencies, and cutting down of some government overheads. Public Service Reform of 2003 which led to outsourcing of some public services, brought the idea of costs-benefit- analysis in National Outsourcing Policy of 2007, and host of other tools were put in place for outsourcing decisions. The World Bank‟s Report on “Nigeria Country Assessment” (2000) identified so many weaknesses in the Procurement system. An earlier report on restructuring urban infrastructure identified the exclusion of private sector participation as one of the main reasons why infrastructural facilities were crumbling, because they needed to be outsourced. The Public Procurement Reform 2007, the Federal Government of Nigeria introduced procurement through the competitive tendering because award of contracts have been identified as a major source of corruption in the public sector. There was a new circular (No. F. 15775 of 27 June 2000) on guideline for “procurement and award of contracts by government ministries and agencies” which was issued by the Federal Government. Also, a Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Units; (BMPIU) established in the same year 2000 to ensure that contract awarding procedure complies with the guidelines of the public procurement act and the issues of compliant to the extant law so as to fight corruption on the award of contracts in Nigeria which formed the basis of this work.

In spite of all these efforts by the Nigerian Governments, it does not seem that significant progress has been made in achieving efficiency, accountability, integrity and transparency in the public procurement system. For instance, the Budget Monitoring and Price Intelligence Unit (BMPIU) claim that nearly $2billion would be saved for the Federal Government of Nigeria on contract awards from 2000 to 2007 Aghon (2004). Furthermore, seven years after the inception of the reform on contract awards, the corruption perception index of 2007 ranked Nigeria 148 out of 180 countries. Based on this expert assessment, the Transparency

International advised Nigerian Government at all levels to improve transparency in financial management, especially in contract awards and executions. The subject of this study, which is the effect of Public Procurement Act 2007 on Outsourcing Decisions of Public Sector Organization in Nigeria. This study has been designed to investigate the Public Procurement Act 2007 and the extent to which it influences outsourcing decisions.

The problems with contract awards in Nigeria may be traced from contracting/outsourcing decisions, it has always been based on theoretical arguments or on foreign experiences due to lack of empirical evidences in Nigeria. This in turn may have badly affected public sector performance and achievement of outsourcing objectives in Nigeria. Moreover, outsourcing decisions and contract awards may not have been based on economic cost/benefit analysis of projects whereby in-house cost of providing goods/services and outsourcing cost are compared.

Hence, some procurement decisions may not be of any economic benefit to the government. The issue of concern to this study is the extent to which outsourcing decisions are influenced by the procurement Act 2017 with respect to the lowest evaluated responsive bid price, the annual budget (GDP) and economic growth of the Nigeria economy.

Another issue of concern is non-adherence to outsourcing budget estimates. It is not clear whether outsourcing budgets are strictly adhered to and used by managers in government to assess and control costs, achieve transparency and efficient management of economic resources. The neglect of budget (as a very useful decision tool for effective financial administration by managers) leads to chaos in allocation of financial resources. The study will carefully investigate this matter. Another issue of concern is that of improper selection of vendors/contractors. It is not clear whether competitive tendering processes are strictly followed, whereby bidding prices are properly analyzed, compared with established standard price before contracts are awarded or vendors selected. Improper evaluation of bids violates the principles of transparency and competition. In most cases it leads to selection of non qualified contractors, uneconomic procurement, use of low quality materials and low quality of work. The concern of this study is the Effect of the Public Procurement Act 2007 on the Outsourcing Decisions of the Public Sector Organizations in Nigeria. In spite of this, no attention has been directed to the effect of public procurement Act for outsourcing decisions in the Nigerian public sector Organizations. There is therefore a compelling need to empirically investigate the extent to the Public Procurement Act 2007 on Outsourcing Decisions of Public Sector Organizations in Nigeria.

1.3              OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

The broad objective of this study is to ascertain the effect of the Public Procurement Act 2007 on Outsourcing Decisions of the Public Sector organizations in Nigeria.

The specific objectives which the study seeks to achieve are to:

1. Determine the extent to which Capital Expenditure affects Outsourcing Cost of public sector organizations in Nigeria.
2. Ascertain the effect of Recurrent Expenditure on Outsourcing Cost of public sector organizations in Nigeria.
3. Assess the effect of Total Expenditure on Outsourcing Cost of public sector organizations in Nigeria.
4. Ascertain the effect of In-House-Cost on Outsourcing Cost of public sector organizations in Nigeria.
5. Determine the extent to which Procurement Plan Cost affects Outsourcing Cost of public sector organizations in Nigeria.

1.4              RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. How    does    Capital    Expenditure    affect    Outsourcing    Cost    of    public sector organizations in Nigeria?
2. To what extent does the Recurrent Expenditure affect Outsourcing Cost of public sector organizations in Nigeria?
3. How does Total Expenditure affect Outsourcing Cost of public sector organizations in Nigeria?
4. How does In-House-Cost affect Outsourcing Cost of public sector organizations in Nigeria?
5. To what extent does Procurement Plan Cost affect Outsourcing Decisions of the public sector organizations in Nigeria?

1.5              RESEARCH HYPOTHESES:

The following research hypotheses were tested:

Ho₁:    Capital Expenditure has no significant effect on Outsourcing Cost of   public sector organizations in Nigeria.

Ho₂:    Recurrent Expenditure has no significant effect on Outsourcing Cost of public sector organizations in Nigeria.

Ho₃:    Total Expenditure has no significant effect on Outsourcing Cost of public sector organizations in Nigeria.

Ho₄:    In – House- Cost has no significant effect on Outsourcing Cost of public sector organizations in Nigeria.

Ho₅:    Procurement Plan Cost has no significant effect on Outsourcing Cost of public sector organizations in Nigeria.

1.6            SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY:

The public service being a complex and large organization requires a set of standards in order to ensure compliance, uniformity and conformity of application, in particular outsourcing of public sector goods and services. The adherence to the Public Procurement Act 2007 on the outsourcing decisions of the public sector organizations will guarantee accountability and transparency; this will provide more support for non-routine, executive and strategic decisions in response to changes in the way government does its business which must be in compliance with best practices all over the world. Both the Government and the outsourcing agencies will benefit from this.

It is also expected that the suggestions offered will equally assist the government in achieving transparency, accountability, and honesty in contract awards in government ministries and agencies and departments as Public Procurement Act 2007 are useful in outsourcing decision making in public sector institutions. It will create awareness on the usefulness of the Public Procurement Law as among the tools and techniques involved in taking outsourcing decisions. Hence, this offers useful suggestions that may assist public sector administrators in understanding various ways of using such tools and techniques in the assessment of goods and services to be outsourced, the relevant cost required for such decisions and how the cost can be compared with vendors bid.

The study will make reasonable contributions to research information based on this topic, and the type of law needed for effective and efficient outsourcing decisions. Future researchers will find it very useful database for related study on the topic.

The result of the study will highlight any mistakes made on the already outsourced contract services by the managers of government finances and provide some suggestions that may assist the managers in correcting such mistakes where possible and taking precautionary measures to avoid future occurrences.

1.7                  SCOPE OF THE STUDY

It is practically impossible to include all the procurement decision stages in a single study such as this. Consequently, the scope of this study will be limited to outsourcing decisions which fall within approved procurement plan cost, categories of services to be outsourced, prequalification exercise, vendor and price selection technical evaluation and the last stage, which is approval of contract award. These are the decision areas which are critical to the effective procurement of public sector functions and services. In addition, the study comprises of all the twenty five (25) Federal Government Ministries as at 31^st December 2015. The study covers eighteen year period form 1998-2015. This has to deal with the pre-policy reform period (1998-2006) and the post policy reform period (2007-2015) in Nigeria.

1.8                OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OF TERMS

1. “Accounting Authority” means the person charged with overall responsibility for the functioning of a Ministry, Extra-Ministerial Department or Corporation;
   1. ”Bid Security” means a form of security assuring the bidder shall not withdraw a bid within the period specified for acceptance and shall execute a written contract within the time specified in the bid;
   1. “Debar” means the placing of a firm company or natural person on a list of persons ineligible to participate in any procurement proceedings under this Act;
   1. “Certificate of no objection” means the document evidencing and authenticating that due process and the letters of the Act have been followed in the conduct or effect payment to contractors, suppliers from the Treasury;
   1. “Contractor supplier” means any potential party to a procurement contract with the procuring entity and includes any corporation, partnership, individual, sole proprietor,

joint stock company, joint venture or any other legal entity through which business is conducted;

• “Excessive price” means a monetary value proposed by a bidder for any procurement which is in the estimation of the Bureau unreasonable and injudicious after consideration of the actual value of the item in question plus all reasonable imputations of cost and profit;
  • “Interim performance certificates” means evidence that a contractor or supplier has performed its obligations under procurement contract up to a level stipulated by the contract but not meaning completion;
  • “International Competitive Bidding” means the solicitation of bids from both domestic and foreign contractors and suppliers;
  • “Lowest evaluated responsive bid” is the lowest price bid amongst the bids that meets all the technical requirements and standard as contained in the tender document.
  • “Margin of Preference” means the extra mark up on price allowed any domestic contractor or supplier bidding under International Competitive Bidding without being otherwise disadvantageous to the terms of price;
  • “Minor Value” means a monetary value which is not in excess of the monetary thresholds set for any approving authority by the Bureau;
  • “Monetary Threshold” means the value limit in Naira set by the Bureau outside of which an approving authority may not award a procurement contract.
  • “National Competitive Bidding” means the solicitation of bids from domestic contractors and suppliers registered or incorporated to carry on business under Nigeria Law;
  • “Open Competitive Bidding” means the offer of prices by individuals or firm competing for a contract, privilege or right to supply specified goods, works, construction or services;
  • “Procurement proceedings” means the initiation of the process of effecting a procurement up to award of a procurement contract;
  • “Procuring Entity” means any public body engaged in procurement and includes a Ministry, Extra-Ministerial Office, Government Agency, Parastatals and Corporation;
  • “Public Procurement” means the acquisition by any means of goods, works, or services by the government;
  • “Relevant authority” includes Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and Independent Corrupt Practices Commission;

“Solicitation Documents” means the bid solicitation documents or any other documents for solicitation of offers proposals or quotations;

• “Special Purpose Goods” means any objects of armaments ammunition mechanical electrical equipment or other things as may be determined by the President needed by the Armed Forces or Police Force as well as the services incidental to the supply of the objects;
  • “Substantially Responsive” means the response to bid solicitations which virtually answers to all needs of a procuring entity as stipulated in the old solicitation documents;
  • “Threshold” refers only to the approving and not the act process of award
  • “Validity Period” means the period during which a bid agrees not to increase the cost of bids or to remove, components of the bid;
  • Outsourcing: Procurement of works/goods/services from outside the organization rather than from within, Procurement and Outsourcing are used interchangeably in this study.
  • Outsourcing Decisions: A conclusion reached by public   sector managers in    favour of outsourcing. It covers selection of goods and services to outsource, planning and budgeting for them, sourcing and selection of vendor and finally the awarding of contract.
  • Off shoring: This is the transfer of an organizational function to another country, regardless of whether the work is outsourced or within the same corporation” (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: 2008).
  • Outsourcing Benefits: Outsourcing benefits in this study refers to cost savings from outsourcing, efficiency, effectiveness, value for money, economy, and accountability.

Goods Not Outsourced: These are goods and services that are not subject to any outsourcing laws and regulations including the Public Procurement Act 2007 such as Procurement of Military Hardware and the minting the Nigerian currency.

₦5,000.00 – DOWNLOAD FULL PROJECT DOWNLOAD FULL PROJECT Added to cart

---

---

---

---

Related Project Topics :