The Level of E-Procurement Usage in Project-related Procurement Practices in Sri Lanka: A Case Study

Abstract

The term procurement has been become a very crucial in contemporary world. Procurement is the act of making the right product or service available to the right person at the right time at the right price in the right place. Procurement implications can impact on the overall cost of carrying out the decision in any organization. In this globalized world, almost all the processes are being becoming digitalized while manual systems are disappearing. In this context, procurement systems have also been digitalized in most of the countries in the world. The eprocurement practices have been acquired such a popularity just because of the benefits of it. In this context this study has been conducted to identify the level of eprocurement usage in public procurement in Sri Lanka. Accordingly, this study has been conducted as a case study with reference to the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of e-procurement usage in public procurement in Sri Lanka. This study is relating to the exploratory qualitative case study design. Primary data for this research has been collected through in-depth interviews followed a semi structured questionnaire and observation method. Sample size was 20 including Procurement officers, administrative officers related to the procurement in the university, Project Coordinators and Activity Coordinators of the projects within the Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. Data has been collected using convenience sampling method. Gathered data have been analysed using Within-case Analysis. Accordingly, it has been provided detailed description of the selected case and then it has been elaborated the several themes within the case. As the main findings of this study, it was revealed that the level of usage of e-procurement practices is low at Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka. Further, recommendations for increasing the level of e-procurement practices and the way of increasing the efficiency while eliminating delays using e-procurement practices has also been provided in each stage of procurement based on the recommendations provided by the respondents.