A Preliminary investigation on an introduction to the electronic procurement system : a case of the Ministry of Water Supply and Drainage

The Ministry of Water Supply and Drainage (MWS&D) has placed the highest priority to provide safe drinking water and adequate sanitation facilities to the community. It is imperative to ensure speed, transparency, and integrity in all the development spheres to achieve desired result, in line with on time completion, quality achievement, and cost efficiency when procuring goods, work, and consultancy and other services. The majority of water supply projects of the Ministry is based on funds from foreign funding agencies, however, it is a critical factor to work in compatibility with the funding agencies procurement policies due to the reason that inadequate capacities of manual procurement processes. Accordingly, this study explored the concept of e-procurement as an instrument to modernize, simplify, and improve the existing manual procurement process. The case study approach was selected as the research methodology and officers of each and every profession of the MWS&D, NWS&DB, and registered contractors of the Ministry were selected as the sample to collect data regarding the existing manual procurement process, gaps from the updated to existing system and requirements in order to strengthen and upgrade the existing system. Semi structured interviews and observations were carried out as techniques of main data collection. Experienced professionals in the field of procurement were consulted to ascertain their opinions on verification of the feasibility of the proposed e-procurement system. Findings of the study were analyzed and presented by using Content Analysis and Cognitive Mapping. Results verified the possibility of introducing and implementing the e-procurement system to the MWS&D using resources and infrastructure available and the capacity and facilities of the Information Technology and legal sanction on e-documents under two phases. Key words: Procurement, Manual Procurement Process, e-Procurement System, Information Technolog