INTERPRETIVE STRUCTURAL MODELING OF FACTORS INFLUENCING PUBLIC PROCUREMENT BID DISPUTES IN KENYA

Abstract

Requests for review in public procurement allow aggrieved bidders to challenge award decisions
of procuring entities thus boosting accountability and transparency. However, bid disputes often
delay service delivery and lead to parties incurring costs as they argue their cases. Past studies
have discussed factors that influence bid disputes broadly without examining how they relate.
Through Interpretive Structural Modeling (ISM), a hierarchical structural framework of factors
that shape public procurement bid disputes in Kenya was developed. Matrice d’Impacts Croisés
Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement (MICMAC) analysis helped establish the driving and
dependence powers of these factors. This paper identified 23 factors that influence public
procurement bid disputes through literature review and content analysis of decisions of bid
disputes handled by Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB), the high court
and court of appeal. It was established that value of contracts, devolution of PPARB services,
bidders’ past performance and regulatory changes (the independent enablers) had low
dependency and high driving power and were, therefore, regarded as fundamental factors that
influence public procurement bid disputes in Kenya. It was recommended that the model advanced
in this research be replicated in different contexts to help grow the model into a theory.
Key Words: Public Procurement, Bid Disputes, Interpretive Structural Modeling.