Analysis of existing lead time management practices in Public Procurement of Pakistan (A Case Study of Ministry of Health and Capital Administration & Development)

Abstract

Pakistan is a developing countries, where resources are scarce, low tax to GDP ratio, and high expenditure on public procurement, stresses the point that the area of research which is about public procurement process needs to be viewed critically. This is necessary because Government procurement accounts for 15%-20% approximately of the total GDP in most countries and in developing countries like Pakistan approximately public procurement amounts 70% of government expenditures (“National Procurement Strategy,” 2013). And efficient procurement procedure is indicated by the fact that a saving of 1% in public procurement share in GDP of Pakistan would mean that approximately Rs 7000 million per year could be saved (“E-Procurement strategy and roadmap,” 2014). Now mostly the concern in public procurement is related to the “transparency & accountability” of the process, since it’s the source through which public funds are spent. And in this regard much of the work on this area is related to the legal aspects dealing the rules and regulations meant to govern this delicate and careful process. So in democratic governments there is a growing pressure of doing more with less expenditure of public funds. This means the need for efficiency in the process is warranted. In the ambit of framework of rules and regulations governing public procurement process, it is observed that there is there is not only gap, but also weakness in the legal, institutional structure and also the procedures adopted by the procuring agency, and these are responsible for the waste in public spending (“National Procurement Strategy,” 2013). And this waste in public spending in association with the public procurement is due to the inefficiency of the process, where efficiency requires the procurement to be completed within reasonable and predictable time frame called lead time. This obviously requires a different approach to the problem area, so in order to study this phenomenon which is lead time management in the public procurement process, the process of public procurement was studied from total system view point i.e. logistics management. So a qualitative approach was used to carry out the research study, in order to probe deeply in the problem area. Various factors were identified and also how these factors contribute to the long lead time in public procurement was also highlighted. This also brings in to knowledge the how value is added at different steps involved in the different phases of public procurement. This enhances the role of lead time management in efficient public procurement process.