Attitude of bidders towards public procurement process: the case of urban water supply and sewerage authorities

The extent of the procuring entities to comply with PPA Act no 21 of 2004 is questionable; this study examined the attitude of bidders towards public procurement process in Arusha, Tanga and Moshi urban water supply and sewerage authority. The objective of the study was to investigate transparency exercised in the different stages of the procurement process and adequacy of evaluation criteria specified in bids documents, finally the study determine the evaluation criteria that bidders consider it being important of unimportant in tender evaluations. The researcher used both qualitative and quantitative approach in analyzing data. On quantitative analysis the programme of SPSS was used, six hypotheses were tested using the Kolmogorov Smimov method and one hypothesis was tested by using the Kruskal- Wallis method. In general the results showed that the extent of the procuring entities to exercise transparency in the different stages of the procurement process were in a low going motion. This situation jeopardize the confidence of bidders to participate in public procurement and thereafter can create a monopoly supply base which will hinder competition and fairness. Furthermore the study reveals that the three UWSAs of Tanga, Moshi and Arusha do not comply fully with the Government Notice no 97, which requires evaluating and awarding their tenders within thirty (30) calendar days, instead they take 60 to 90 calendar days. To redress the above weakness, it is recommended that the procuring entities, the Government, and Suppliers should focus on education and awareness of procurement and PPA act in general and make sure that transparency is executed in all procurement processes. The major aim would be to increase public trust and increase transparency in use of Government resources in order to obtain value for money.