Doctoral Thesis
The public procurement law in Tanzania requires procuring entities to ensure both compliance and value for money in procurement. However, compliance and value for money audit results for the recent four consecutive years have shown that procuring entities in Tanzania failed to balance compliance with value for money. Similarly, the literature provides mixed results on the link between compliance and value for money. Hence, this study investigated the link and mismatch between procurement compliance indicators and value for money in Tanzania public procurement. To meet the study objectives, the systems theory and public value theory were deployed to guide the study. The study adopted the mixed methods approach and explanatory cross-sectional survey design in the stage of data collection and analysis. Similarly, data were collected using surveys, interviews, and documentary review from 164 procuring entities in Arusha, Dar es Salaam, and Dodoma Regions. The quantitative data were analyzed through Structural Equation Modelling using SPSS and AMOS while qualitative data were analyzed using a thematic approach. The results of this study revealed that compliance indicators are significantly related to value for money. Furthermore, government policy and code of ethics and conduct confound the relationship between compliance indicators and value for money. By implication, procuring entity invests in strengthening compliance indicators and adjusts for government policy and code of ethics and conduct is likely to achieve the best value for money in public procurement. Likewise, it was further revealed that the mismatch between compliance and value for money in Tanzania public procurement is caused by the audit measurement tools and government policy. The study proposed the procurement compliance and value for money management framework which can be adopted by policymakers and procuring entities to achieve the best performance. The study recommends PPRA harmonize the measurement scales used to measure compliance and value for money performance. Finally, although the fact that most of the procuring entities in Tanzania achieve value for money without satisfactory compliance, the present study stresses that the best value for money must be supported with satisfactory compliance