Factors influencing the usage of e-procurement in the South African Navy

Abstract

This research examines the factors influencing the utilisation of e-procurement in the Department of Defence, with a specific focus on the South African Navy. Although e-procurement was introduced to streamline the purchasing and supply function, reduce costs, and simplify the process, procurement managers in government still face challenges such as corruption, noncompliance, overspending, and wasteful expenditure. To gather data, the study employed a qualitative research approach, conducting interviews with 17 procurement members from the SA Navy. The findings show that e-procurement system inefficiencies, unreliable power supply due to load shedding, issues with the Central Supplier Database, partial automation of e-procurement processes, capacity and system integration challenges, and a lack of technical knowledge about the system were the main factors affecting the use of e-procurement in the South African Navy. To address these challenges, the paper recommends investing in infrastructure, improving supplier verification processes, adopting standardised documents, enhancing human resource capacity, improving system integration, and strengthening legislation on supplier data protection.