An impact of centralised procurement in the public sector, A case study of Malawi defense force

Centralised and decentralised are the two commonly used procurement concepts in the public and private sectors today. In Malawi all the public sectors use centralised procurement system under the guidance of the Office of the Director of Public Procurement. Malawi Defence Force (MDF). Being a government arm they use centralised procurement system to sustain the troops during peace and operational periods. To date, authors continue to debate on which procurement systems of the two are ideal for the public sector. However, both systems have their own advantages and disadvantages. The MDF has of late switched from decentralised system to the current centralised system under the Directorate of Logistics (DOL) which is the procurement entity of the MDF. Procurement in the military system is more complicated and different from the public sector because it involves large purchases of capital investment from the global market. The objective is to acquire products and services that specify specific needs and provide measureable improvement to accomplish any assigned tasks but at a reasonable cost. The MDF being an arm of the government receives financial funding from the government and it is for this reason that the MDF should adhere to the government procurement procedures as stipulated in the Public Procurement Act (2003) and also encourage transparency and accountability in the procurement process to achieve Value for Money (VFM)