Abstract:
The study sought to investigate the effects of open tendering on procurement of goods and services by Public Secondary Schools in Nyeri Central Sub- County of Nyeri County in Kenya. The study had four objectives namely to; Analyze the effect of Open tendering system on the quality of goods and services procured: Examine the influence of Open tendering system on the cost of goods and services procured: Assess the effectiveness of Open tendering on the accountability in procurement of goods; Evaluate the influence of Open tendering on the suppliers' confidence in the procurement system of Public Secondary Schools in Nyeri central. The researcher adopted the descriptive survey design. The population of the study consisted of
288 respondents consisting of 112 tendering committee members of the 14 Public Secondary
Schools in the Sub- County and 176 registered suppliers in the Sub- County. From a population of 176 registered suppliers, snowballing was used to draw a sample of 122 suppliers. A census was carried out on the committee members. Data analysis was done using descriptive and inferential statistics. Statistical Package for Social Scientists version 21 (SPSS) was used to generate frequencies, percentage and mean to present the measuring parameters of each objective. A regression model was computed to establish the relationship between each independent variable with the dependent variable. Further a multi-regression model was also computed to establish the relationship between all independent variables with the dependent variable. It was found that open tendering improves the quality of goods and services procured; open tendering reduces cost of goods and services procured; Open tendering increases accountability in the procurement process and also open tendering increases suppliers' confidence. The research concludes that though Public Secondary Schools are using open tendering, all the laid down procedures are not being followed. It therefore follows that introduction of the open tendering have not adequately improved accountability or improved the quality of goods and services.
