Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

The issue of corruption has dominated and has been discussed globally and at national forums. The need to control corruption and growing international interest in the phenomenon is based on a consensus among all groups that the phenomenon must be eliminated from society. This study will be aimed to conduct policy analysis on public procurement from the perspective of curbing Public sector corruption; more specifically:

To achieve this objective, it would be ascertaining factors that lead to corrupt practices in the public sector institutions in Ghana, it will be finding out how the Public Procurement Act 663 has contributed to fighting corruption, it will be identifying the weaknesses in the Public Procurement Act 663. The study will be using triangulation method thus both Qualitative and Quantitative research and also a review of literature from journals, online which will be mostly secondary data. The study will be revealing that the Act has encouraged competition among bidders for public contracts and enhanced the level of transparency in the tendering process and therefore structures will be created to harmonize the procurement process to ensure judicious use of public funds. The law has standardized procurement procedures in the public sector. However, politicization in the procurement process and manipulation of the tendering process by public officials and contractors will be emphasized.

Procurement entities rarely adhere to guidelines set by the Act. Poor contract management, the weak sanctioning regime and improper disposal of assets have undermined the capacity of the law to deal with corruption in public institutions. The use of sole sourcing by public institutions has rather triggered corruption rather than stopping it.

Moreover, to address these shortcomings, the mechanism to strengthen contract supervision and monitoring will be preventing shoddy works and the delivery of low-quality goods. Also, de-politicization of the procurement process will be ensuring that competent people are hired by politically independent and neutral organization such as the Public Services Commission to handle the process. Guidelines for sole sourcing and disposal of assets shall be enforced by the Public Procurement Authority to check their abuse by public sector institutions. The policy gaps that will be contributing to the incidence and policy implementation problems will be identified. Finally, based on the findings, policy priorities and policy implementation strategies will be recommended to policy makers to ensure Public Services Commission be given the Constitutional Mandate as an impartial appointment institution to recruit the Chief Executive and then Periodic procurement audits will be conducted to ensure that procurement entities, contractors, suppliers and consultants adhere to the provisions of the Public Procurement Act. The guidelines for the use of sole sourcing in procurement will be reviewed.

Finally, The Availability of Corruption Vulnerability Assessment (CVA) will be conducted the introduction of E- procurement or E-governance system will be implemented to help bridge the gap and to resort to stake holders for further review on the Public procurement policy to curb corruption so as to ensure transparency

Keywords: Policy Analysis, Public Procurement, Public Procurement Act, Corruption,

Public Sector Institutions