BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT

Programme Aims and Objectives

Introduction

Rationale

Public procurement generally concerns the purchase and procurement of works, goods and services from contractors and vendors in a transparent and competitive bidding process or the public entities and quasi government entities. The use of public procurement policies as a social justice vehicle is a modern development in government contract agreements. Governments have used public procurement to achieve socio-economic or political goals in at least five ways:

  • To stimulate national economic activity;
  • To protect against foreign competition;
  • To improve competition in certain economic sectors;
  • To drive innovation in a particular area of technology
  • To remedy regional disparities; and
  • To achieve specific social policy goals.

Therefore, there is need for specialized competencies in the management of public resources through public procurement in order to achieve the above stated goals. It should be noted that public procurement consumes over 60 percent of government revenues in form of spend on works, services, goods and utilities and currently Zambia needs capacity in this area.

Aims of the programme

The aim of the programme is to develop a range of technical and transferable soft skills to equip students with knowledge, skills and required attributes to enable them effectively and competently procure, store and monitor goods, services and works of varying degrees of complexity and value on behalf of the government and government agencies..

Objectives of the programme

  • To be a stimulating academic experience engendering an understanding of the complex and subtle relationships at play in Public Procurement Environments.
  • To provide a framework in which to broaden, deepen, extend and apply knowledge and understanding and enable the learner to creatively review, develop, synthesize, resolve and critically evaluate and address any Public Procurement Challenge in the Business Environment