The adoption of e-procurement in Tanzania public procurement

Abstract

The increased adoption of the internet for business uses globally, has influenced the function of procurement to migrate from traditional paper-based processes to e-procurement. The unique features of the internet and related web-based technologies can potentially support the activities of procurement, and at the same time provide improvements to the procurement process. It is on this ground that e-procurement has, in recent years, been used as a means to significantly reduce costs because its ability to reduce transaction costs and manage the inventory in a more efficient manner. In its most basic definition, e-procurement is the stream- lining of procurement/purchasing processes by eliminating traditional paper-based documents such as purchase orders, requisitions forms, invoices etc and replacing them with electronic based paperless processes. It is a powerful business tool that can revolutionize the buying function of an organization by streamlining and automating the labour intensive procurement routines which in return enable employees to gain direct access to their suppliers' systems, visually confirm technical specifications and view product pictures, price points, and detailed product descriptions.