ABSTRACT

The Access to Government Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) program came into force as an affirmative action with the aim of addressing the challenges faced by youths, women and persons of disabilities. Since its inception in 2013, the implementation of AGPO program in most government agencies is very low. Some of youths, women and persons of disabilities are not aware of existence of AGPO while others do not have adequate resources for registrations. There is also limited understanding of the legal framework guiding the operations of AGPO among some of the youths, women and persons of disabilities. Despite having in place clearly established code of conduct at AGPO, a challenge has been on adhering with these values. The current study sought to establish factors influencing implementation of the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities Program in ministry of health, Kenya. Specifically, the study looked at availability of information on government tenders, resource adequacy, regulatory requirements and ethical practice adherence and their influence on implementation of the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities Program in the ministry of health, Kenya. This study was guided by three theories: the resource-based view, stewardship theory and the institutional theory. The study adopted a descriptive research design targeting 1200 SMEs registered by youths, women and persons of disability operating in Nairobi, procurement staff from the ministry of health, representatives from AGPO, representatives from Public Procurement and Oversight Authority (PPOA) and representatives from the National Treasury. The study adopted stratified random sampling to select 281 SMEs registered by youths, women and persons of disability whole census was used in selecting the procurement staff from the ministry of health, representatives from AGPO, representatives from Public Procurement and Oversight Authority (PPOA) and representatives from the National Treasury. The study collected primary data using questionnaire and interview guide. Pilot testing of the instruments was done to determine their validity and reliability. The analysis of the collected data was done using descriptive statistics including frequencies and percentage and regression analysis. Tables were used during the presentation of the findings. From the results, most of the respondents agreed that there was availability of information on government tender, availability of resources and existence of regulatory requirement as far as the implementation of the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities Program in the ministry of health, Kenya and while few respondents moderately agreed on adherence to ethical values when it came to the implementation of the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities Program in ministry of health. The study concluded that availability of information on government tenders had the greatest influence on the implementation of the Access to Government Procurement Opportunities Program in the ministry of health, Kenya followed by regulatory requirements, ethical practice adherence and resource availability. The study recommended that the Finance Managers in the National Treasury in Kenya should prioritize payment of the PWDs after completion of the awarded tenders so as to enhance their liquidity positions. The National Treasury should simplify the regulatory requirements that are needed for PWDs to participate in the AGPOA program. The study recommended further research to be conducted to link the identified factors with performance rather than implementation of AGPO program.