Are the Covid-19 Pandemic and Public Procurement ‘Strange Bedfellows’? An African Perspective

• Published in: Africa development 2023-08, Vol.48 (2), p.175-196
• Main Author: Changalima, Ismail Abdi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cadres; Collaboration; COVID-19; Governance; Government purchasing; Literature reviews; Pandemics; Purchasing; Regional organizations; Selected Papers on Covid-19 Pandemic and African Economies / Selection d'articles sur La pandémie de Covid-19 et l'économie en Afrique
• ISSN: 0850-3907; 2521-9863; 0850-3907
• DOI: 10.57054/ad.v48i2.5085

The purpose of this article is to provide insights into how the Covid-19 pandemic has affected public procurement operations, and the role of public procurement during the pandemic. The article synthesises relevant literature on Covid-19 and public procurement in the African context. A review of literature from 2020 to 2022 was done to enrich the findings of the current article, which shows that the Covid-19 pandemic affected public procurement in the form of delays, malpractice, budget reallocations and supply disruptions. Furthermore, during the Covid-19 pandemic it was recommended that public procurement practices be more strategic through collaboration, and respond more quickly in obtaining vaccines and health supplies, which were critical in the prevention and treatment of related illnesses. The article provides several practical implications in terms of ensuring good governance, implementing regulatory frameworks for emergency procurement, improving collaboration among members of comparable regional organisations, and implementing Covid-19 preventative measures. Finally, because the current study’s scope is limited in terms of the selection of published articles and other relevant literature that give insights about the African continent during this period, future studies could be conducted to include literature from outside the African continent in order to broaden the scope of this current study. L'objectif de cet article est de donner un aperçu de la manière dont la pandémie de Covid-19 a affecté les opérations de passation des marchés publics et le rôle des marchés publics pendant la pandémie. L'article synthétise la littérature pertinente sur le Covid-19 et les marchés publics dans le contexte africain. Une revue de la littérature de 2020 à 2022 a été réalisée pour enrichir les conclusions de cet article, qui montre que la pandémie de Covid-19 a affecté les marchés publics avec des retards, des malversations, des réallocations budgétaires et ruptures d'approvisionnement. En outre, pendant la pandémie de Covid-19, il a été recommandé que les pratiques de passation des marchés publics soient plus stratégiques grâce aux collaborations et qu’elles réagissent plus rapidement à obtenir des vaccins et des fournitures sanitaires essentiels à la prévention et au traitement des maladies connexes. L'article fournit plusieurs incidences pratiques en ce qui concerne l’assurance d'une bonne gouvernance, de mise en œuvre de cadres réglementaires pour l'approvi