Systemic Challenges Facing Public Procurement Policy Development in Tanzania: An Institutional Analysis

Abstract

Public procurement policy is vital for effective, efficient, economic, and transparent functioning of the public procurement system. Policy development is a political decision making platform. This paper tries to do an institutional analysis dwelling on the identification of the relevant systemic challenges and the related issues facing public procurement policy development in Tanzania. The paper utilises institutional and Delphi policy analyses to analyse systemic challenges facing public procurement policy development. Data for this paper were collected through Delphi in-depth interviews and documentary reviews and analysis. Data analysis were done by thematic and Delphi policy analyses. Analyses of data and evidences show that, Tanzania has been evidenced to have no public procurement policy. The public procurement policy development process has been halted for at least four years since 2012 due systemic challenges. The identified and analysed relevant systemic challenges facing public procurement policy development, inter alia, were: neglected politics and lack of political willingness; unrealistic policy process model; failure to achieve the desired qualities of policy development and difficult in achieving the policy qualities and therefore failure to make progress; and incoherent and incomplete institutional and structural changes that led to the emergence of new institutional and structural challenges.