Abstract

In the modern competitive business environment, government institutions need to embrace information communications technology to remain competitive. Procurement has been recognized as a priority government agenda by many public sector agencies worldwide. The government of Rwanda decided to adopt an e-procurement system in its public institutions and the e-procurement system was launched in Rwanda in July 2016.  The study aim was to analyze the relationship between E-Government procurement and compliance to fundamental principles governing public procurement in local government entities in Rwanda; with case study of Burera district, located in the Northern Province.  The specific objective of the study was to assess the relationship between E-Bidding model, E-Catalogue model and E-Contract model and compliance to fundamental principles in local government entities. The study considered 3 theories namely: Disruptive Innovation Theory, Innovation Diffusion Theory and Technology Acceptance Theory.

The regression model used was LogY= βo + β1LogXit1 + β2LogXiit2 + β3LogXiiit3 + ɛt. And multiple R (correlation) value obtained was 0.876.  The model summary depicted from regression analysis with R (correlation) value of 0.876 (87.6%) indicated a highly positive relationship between the dependent and independent variables and, the overall contribution of the independent variables: E-Bidding, E-Catalogue and E-Contract to the effective and increase of level of compliance to fundamental principles in local government entities which accounted for 76.7% (R2 = 0.767) of the variation in compliance of fundamental principles.

Therefore, the researcher concluded that E-bidding, E-catalogue and E-contract had the significance influence on the compliance of fundamental principles which led to confirm the relationship between E-government procurement and compliance to fundamental principles in local government entities in Rwanda.  The study recommended that Local government entities should mainly focused on development of professional career of staff involved in public procurement and continue to increase their level of compliance in fundamental principles governing public procurement to ensure their sustainability and compliance in the future. And finally, the study proposed different major areas of fundamental principles compliance in public procurement and different scenarios that indicated the necessity of further research in this area.