Contract Relationship Management: A Bridge for Service Delivery in Serere District Local Government in Uganda

Abstract

The limited literature on contract relationship management and service delivery satisfactory level provided a basis for this study. The objectives of the study were to; establish the relationship between contract relationship management and service delivery and determine the service delivery satisfactory level in Serere District Local Government in Uganda. The data of the study was collected from ninety (90) key procurement stakeholders in the district. The respondents were selected using purposive and stratified sampling methods. Data were collected through pre-tested research questionnaires. The descriptive statistics used include; mean and standard deviation while Pearson correlation coefficient (p) and regression analysis was used to analyze and test hypothesizes. The result shows that there was a significant relationship between contract relationship management and service delivery (r=0.354, p<0.001) while service delivery satisfaction level in Serer District Local Government was at only 56.7%.  The results also show low contract management review meetings between the parties leading to high bidders’ protest. Therefore, contract relationship management model is a very important component to successful delivery of services in local governments.  The researcher recommends the district to establish Contract Management Forum to address the contract management related challenges between the entity and other stakeholders in an open and transparent manner.

Keywords: Contract Relationship Management, Service Delivery, Contract Management Forum, Local Government.