Individual Assignment
1. Select a single topic and read three to five research papers find the problem
statement of the each research
2. From the researches you read formulate
a. The research problem
b. Research objectives
c. The research delimitation
Instruction:
1. Summarize the research problems in assessed researches
2. Write them in a clear and precise way
ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITYSCHOOL OF
GRADUATE STUDIES
Public Procurement Reforms in Ethiopia: Policy and
Institutional Challenges and Prospects BY Yirga Tesfahun
Public procurement is among the most untouched issues in Ethiopia as much as my effort to find
background information is concerned. In this study, the researcher has tried to come up with
ideas and create dialogue on the government’s public procurement practices. It also tried to
assess the procurement practices and the legal and regulatory frameworks as well as the
institutional set up of the federal public procurement system. In addition this research aspires to
be pioneer in triggering further researches on the issue.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Public procurement has been identified as the government activity most vulnerable to corruption.
According to McDonald (2009), lack of accountability, transparency and integrity has long been
associated with public procurement. As a major interface between the public and the private
sectors, public procurement provides multiple opportunities for both public and private actors to
divert public funds for private gain. For example, according to McDonald, bribery by
international firms in different countries is more pervasive in public procurement than in utilities,
taxation, judiciary and state capture, according to the 2005Executive Opinion Survey of the
World Economic Forum. Public procurement is also a major economic activity of the
government where corruption as a potential high impact on tax payers’ money. According to an
OECD (2005) report, in the European Union, public procurement equaled approximately EUR
1.5 trillion in 2002.In OECD countries; existing statistics suggest that public procurement
accounts for 15percent of Gross Domestic Product. In addition, in the Dominican Republic, 20
percent of government expenditure is spent on procuring goods and services; in Malawi and
Vietnam it is 40 percent; and in Uganda it is as much as 70 percent. According to Nebiyu, out of
the total public spending, more than 60 percent goes to procuring public goods and services
according to the Ethiopian Procurement and Property Administration Agency (PPA) report.
Efficiently and effectively handling this size of procurement outlay has been a policy and
management concern as well as a challenge forgovernments.1 Personal interview with Nebyu
Kokeb, the Agency’s Procurement Change Implementation and Capacity Building Directorate
Director The Ethiopian Public Procurement and Property Administration Agency has been
established under 649/2009 (very recent amendment). The Agency, which is directly responsible
to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (MoFED)have the following duties and
responsibilities Advising the Federal Government on all public procurement and property
administration policies, principles and implementation Monitoring and reporting to the Minister
the performance of the public procurement and property administration systems in the Federal
Government;
Prepare, update and issue authorized versions of the standard bidding documents,
procedural forms and any other attendant documents pertaining to procurement and
property administration;
Review and decide on complaints submitted by public bodies on the conduct of bidders
or suppliers, and send copies of such decision to the concerned organs;
On ducting audit to ensure that procurement and property administration activities of
public bodies are in accordance with the Proclamation… are few among the many others.
Though public procurement shares 60 percent of the total public spending, it hasn’t been given
due attention so far in the country. Until recent years, over sighting public procurement has been
the responsibility of a smaller department under the Ministry of Finance and Economic
Development. In recent years, however, it has been merged with the Property Administration
Department and renamed as Public Procurement and Property Administration Agency (PPA).In
Ethiopia, the Auditor General, Human Rights Commission (HRC) Federal Ethics Anti-
Corruption Commission (FEAC) and others are directly responsible to the House of People’s
Representatives. But huge responsibility on it and frequent allegations of corruption,
discrimination and inefficiency, the Ethiopian public procurement has long been neglected and
subordinated to the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development as if it is a very simple
government function. In addition, procurement by its very nature deals with issues of law,
engineering, information technology, etc. However, the Agency has few employees which are
not trained in these fields. For example the Ethiopian Anti-Corruption Commission and Customs
and Revenues Authority have their own lawyers for corruption cases. But in the Procurement
Agency this is not practicable. The Ethiopian Public Procurement and Property Administration
Agency, further, has four main departments among which is the Complaints Review and
Resolution Department. The Agency has a committee to receive complaints from candidates or
bidders. According to CPAR report (2010), it is difficult for the committee to act independently
as far as it is dependent on MOFED. First, members of the Committee are selected by
government in such a way that the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development will be the
chair and Public Procurement and Property Administration Agency, Public Enterprises, Public
Bodies, the Ethiopian Chamber of Commerce and Sector Associations (ECCSA) all serving
as members of the Committee. In different countries, however, the committee is selected from
independent outsiders like lawyers, judges, university professors, etc. For example in Canada,
where the Ethiopian procurement system is modeled from, the complaint review committee
members are all selected from outside of the procuring agency. In addition, the committee
reviews compliant cases in a court like setting where the compliant and the defender are present
with lots of other people attending the event.
1.4 Research Objectives
1.4 1 General Objective
The general objective of the research is giving a better insight about the challenges and prospects
of the FG’s public procurement system and assesses the nature and system of public procurement
practices and the underlying factors that hinder public procurement activities in Ethiopia.
1.4.2 Specific Objectives
Having the above mentioned general objectives, the study has the following specific objectives.
To assess the legal and regulatory framework governing the Federal Government’s public
procurement activities.
To examine the professional capacity of the procurement staff in the public procurement
oversight organization.
To assess the public procurement operations practices in different Ministries, Agencies
and other institutions in general
To assess the performances of the Public Procurement Audit Unit and Complaints
Review Board.
To examine the transparency and integrity of the procurement system in the Federal
Government.
To give insight for the responsible government body in general and to the Agency in
particular about the challenges of the procurement system of the country.
To produce possible policy recommendations that can help for relevant authorities both at
national and regional level to diverse appropriate measures that can enhance efficient
procurement practice.
1.6 Limitations of the Study
Lack of textbooks and previous researches in the area of public procurement was one of the
major pitfalls in this research. In addition, lack of finance was the major limitation of this study
which hinders the researcher from an in depth investigation of the issue. Further, busyness of the
key informant groups has forced the researcher to cancel lots of appointments and it took longer
than expected time for the completion of the research.
Below the following is individual assignment
Formulate the research problem
Statement of the problem
In order to make government procurement transparent, the main task should be to guide the
existing human resources with the best qualified leaders and to ensure that they are independent
from politics, so that they become more professional, moral and strict.
General Objective
. To be able to do any procedure in the field of procurement in a clear way and to fully
understand responsibility and accountability to assign the right professionals for the job; To
consider public resources as one's own, to allow the professional to work independently, not to
interfere with the work, as it erodes the gap and responsibility in the work.
Specific Objectives
The general issues listed above are the specific objectives of the study
To Linking the sections and guidelines used by the government with an updated legal framework
To Being able to pay attention to the professionals and paying them the right amount will solve
the problem
To Encouraging employees to use improved technology and providing technology
To Providing trainings that increase moral efficiency
To Monitoring employees to focus only on their own work
To establish a group that can receive independent suggestions and provide correction
To Customization of the system that checks the procedure.
Limitation of the study
The professional obligations that are listed as permanent missions, transparency, accountability,
etc., the fear of translating into practice outside of the text, the fear of the main obstacles, the
situation that becomes very complicated and has become common for many years, the fact that it
is being considered as correctness, the situation that has been attacking the personality is a great
challenge for the researcher, and for this reason, it is difficult and challenging to ask
professionals and get information.
ST. MARY’S UNIVERSITY
SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
FACULTY OF BUSINESS
RELATION OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT PRACTICES WITH
ORGANIZATIONAL COMPETITIVENESS: THE CASE OF ETHIOPIAN PULP
AND PAPER S.C (EPPSC)
BY MEKDES TILAHUN
Statement of the problem
The strategic fit requires that the company‘s supply chain achieve the balance between
responsiveness and efficiency that best meets the needs of the company‘s competitive strategy.
To understand how a company can improve supply chain performance in terms of
responsiveness and efficiency, we must examine the logistical and cross functional drivers of
supply chain performance: facilities, inventory, transportation, and information, sourcing, and
pricing (Chopra and Meind, 2007). Competitiveness is an important factor in determining
whether a company prospers, barely gets by, or fails (Stevenson, 2002).
The Ethiopian Pulp and Paper share company EPPSC invests much amount of its working capital
for procurement. According to financial Statement report from finance department in the
EPPSC, more than 60% the cost of goods sold is spent on the raw material
procurement .Shortage of capital due to lack of available raw material for production of paper
and corrugated box, plus unavailability of maintenance parts with lack of labor experts is the
main problem that the organization faces. These drawbacks affect the outbound logistics part
of supply chain in related to increasing of paper and corrugated box prices. Pricing affects the
behavior of buyer of the good or service, thus affecting supply chain performance. Pricing is a
significant attribute through which a firm executes its competitive strategy. Most supply chain
activities display economics of scale. Changeovers make small production runs more expensive
per unit than large production run.
A company used approach is to offer quantity discounts (Chopra and Meind, 2007). In other
side to expand using recycling paper in a smart way is cost effective for production compare to
expensive long chain of importing pulp from abroad.
A mistake in procurement planning for firms will not only have a direct impact on operating
costs but also, its profitability, return on investment, balance sheet size, capital adequacy,
among others. According to Cousins and Spekman (2003) procurement is largely based on the
fact that firms are slowly acknowledging the value added capabilities of a function that is
typically responsible for procuring assets that equal about 65% of the average company sales.
Failure to see the full extent of supply chains in a company can be damaging. Seeing it, but then
Confronting it with the wrong solution can be fatal (Gattorna, 2009). Developing workable
Mechanisms for smoothing the chain and indicating ways to reach the desired performance of
pulp and paper industry in capital as well as customer satisfaction would lead to
competitiveness in the market. In the case company there is a gap on focusing the overall
supply chain; that would have effect on sustainability or existence of the organization in the
competitive market.
Therefore, the study tried to see the relation of supply chain management in strategic supplier
Relationship, internal supply chain management and customer relationship management with
Competitiveness of the organization specifically in Ethiopian pulp and Paper Company cost
efficiency, technological advancement and demand condition measurements.
Objective of the study
The general objective of the study is to determine to what extent the supply chain management
Related with the competitiveness of the organization under study.
In line with this, it tries to achieve the following specific objectives;-
To assess the practice of supply chain management of EPPSC.
To determine the relationship between supply chain management practice and
Organizational competitiveness
Significance of the study
The study will create opportunity for the firm to identify gap in performance related to supply
Chain practices and competitive advantage, and ways to improve performance and it will create
Awareness to decision makers and concerned staffs that work inbound logistics section,
operation and out bound logistics section of the firm to enable them to know the relationship
of supply chain management practice with firm‘s competitiveness.
Generally the findings from the research will add more knowledge on the existing body of
Knowledge in the subject area. That means the study will give insight and could be used as basis
to those researchers who want to engage in the same subject area in future. Also findings and
recommendation of this study will guide the case organizations and other related companies in
their policy formulation
Limitation of the study
Limitation of the study is insufficient of empirical researches related to the study area in
Ethiopian context. Also in pulp and paper industry, supply chain management and
organizational competitiveness area could not get easily for review in any context. That has
shortage of data for literature review of the thesis as limitation
Below the following is individual assignment
Formulate the research problem
Statement of the problem
Optimizing Transportation and focusing on Quality Improvement another key component within
supply chain management this is the gap of the company.
This process must be optimized for to create minimum variance in outcomes (increase
predictability of the process itself), to minimize or eliminate non-conformance to customer
requirements. The manufacturing process is almost always a space for continuous improvement
even in the most high tech of automated production lines.
Objective of the study
The call for the company is to recycling the country's surplus into resources to address the
shortage of row material, In order to overcome the shortage of maintenance technicians, the
Technical and Vocational Education Departments will talk to each department and select and
train students who are interested in this profession.
By filling gaps and correcting cash shortages, supply chain results and customer satisfaction.
Specific Objectives
The general issues listed above are the specific objectives of the study
Important aspect to consider is that value and quality are determined by the customer. They are
the ones that decide which items they want to buy and most consumers are willing to pay more
money for items that they judge are of better quality. Manufacturers should collaborate with their
customers to identify their main needs and figure out how to create products that will be of value
to them. Any inefficiencies or drawbacks of your products will be identified and will offer you
an opportunity to correct and improve your products. This information should also be shared
with all partners along the supply chain to ensure that all are working towards a common goal.
To company's supply chain should focus on consumer demand.
To Product improvement increases market demand
To company strategic plans should also be analyzed
To company revise the standard measurement
DEVELOPMENT DEPARTEMENT OF PUBLIC
PROCUREMENT AND
ASSETMANAGEMENT
TITLE
Challenges of sustainable procurement practice in the government
institution:
The case of Ethiopian space since and Technology institute
By Tsigemeriam Gezahegn
Statement of the problem
The main challenges of sustainable procurement within their organization Ethiopia space science
Technology institute to find, a lack of understanding of sustainability issues and not making
increased public awareness of the wider issues. For instance, executives and managers need the
sustainable policy Maker’s information provided system to help them to plan, to control and
evaluate procurement Operation. Outsider such as suppliers, government legislation, service
provider investors, and other also need information to implementing sustainable procurement.
This study requires the participation and action of many stakeholders such as Finance property
Administration human resource budgeting and policymaker internal auditors to identify the
challenges and to implement sustainable procurement and supply. This will help them to have a
Deep understanding of the skills to employ and apply the resource and to make it highly
acceptable to the community
1.4 Objective of the Study
1.4.1. General Objectives
The general objective of this study will be to examine the challenge of sustainable procurement
practices in the Ethiopia space science Technology institution.
1.4.2. Specific Objectives
The specific objectives of the research will be:
•To assess Ethiopia space science technology institute is using effectively for sustainable
procurement some question adders to administrative decisions.
•To analyze the role sustainable procurement in Ethiopia space science technology institute
•To investigate whether knowledge gap exists on the use of Ethiopia space science technology
institute between different levels of management.
•To analyze whether Ethiopia space science technology institute use sustainable procurement
effectively to attain its objectives
Limitation of the Study
During the study period the research will select from the procurement department and property
Administration from budgeting section because it’s the study might not be easily accessible to
relevant and sufficient data so that the researcher might be confined to fully address all related
procurements challenges and practices they might be affected by some degree of generalization
in the difficult to data and experts to get efficient information is not simple for the researcher.
Formulate the research problem
Statement of the problem
The structure of the organization in the sustainable procurement is one challenge . Best
practices for implementing sustainable supply base and create metrics that connect to corporate
sustainability objectives. When it comes to adopting a sustainable approach to managing
suppliers, it is the procurement teams that are automatically assumed to be best placed to
implement these changes. , must collaborate with their suppliers to improve operations.
. In order for individuals and teams to integrate sustainability into this process they need to be
provided with the metrics for judging suppliers performance and the questions to ask suppliers.
This will help them to have a deep understanding of the skills to employ and apply the resource
and to make it highly acceptable to the community
1.3. Objective of the Study
Improve the organization procurement process using the best practice of sustainable procurement
and supplier’s relationship based on the compass of sustainable objective.
1.3.1. General Objectives
The specific objectives of the research will be:
•To investigate the limitation between the procurement process and the supplier relationship
conducting in the Ethiopia space science technology institute.
•To analyze the role of sustainable procurement and the supplier conducting in the Ethiopia
space science technology institute.
• To analyze understanding the basics of Procurement’s influence on sustainability in the
Ethiopia space science technology institute.
• To assess Ethiopia space science technology institute is using effectively for sustainability
procurement.
1.4. Limitation of the Study
The researcher Sustainable procurement is the search of sustainable development objectives
through the purchasing and supply process, and involves balancing environmental, social and
economic objectives. It is raising on the policy agenda for many countries, but knowledge
remains limited in the organization of the departments with the limitation of the researcher
knowldgcapacityrealize this also, this study requires high financial capacity
