Role of Supplier Appraisal on the Performance of Projects Funded by Constituency Development Fund in Kenya

Abstract

The enactment of Constituency Development Fund Act in the year 2003 was seen a breakthrough in facilitating the development of Kenyan constituencies by having a share of the national government revenue been channeled directly to the constituencies. However, there have been several cases of wastage of the CDF money through malpractices in the tendering process which have been leading to stalled, abandoned and quality issues being raised for the on-going and completed projects. Several studies have been done in relation to use CDF in different constituencies in Kenya for which procurement in the constituencies has been put on the spot. However, no specific study has been specifically geared towards the role supplier appraisal plays in determining the success or failure of projects funded by Constituency Development. This backdrop formed the research question “what is the role of supplier appraisal on the performance of projects funded by Constituency Development Fund? The study adopted cross-sectional research design where the target population was all the projects funded by CDF in Machakos County constituencies. The study used stratified random sampling and the sample size was 450 projects. Questionnaires were used for collection of primary data. Qualitative and quantitative data was coded and entered in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) for analysis. Descriptive statistics were generated. To test the relationship between supplier appraisal and performance of projects funded by CDF, correlation analysis was undertaken where there was a positive correlation. To test the significance of the model and test of hypothesis, logistic regression was used where the results showed that, the projects where Supplier Appraisal had been done were 4.8 times more likely to succeed than those where supplier appraisal hadn’t been done. The study recommended that, from the national perspective there should be approved list of contractors/suppliers for various inputs/services which would eliminate the dilemma of non-performance and the need for appraisal at the grass roots which would take a lot of time and resources.

Key words: Supplier Appraisal, Constituency Development Fund, Performance of Projects