The Impact Of Procured Inputs On Internal Customer Satisfaction: Case Study: National Water And Sewerage Corporation.

ABSTRACT

This research study was carried out to assess the factors affecting internal customer

satisfaction in respect to procured inputs in national water and sewerage corporation

(NWSC).for some years NWSC internal customers/users of procured inputs had been

complaining about non-availability of the inputs and considered it a major constraint to

improve performance in water and sewerage service delivery in towns where NWSC

operates. The main objective of the study was to assess factors affecting internal

customer satisfaction from the perspective of procured inputs.

The theory behind the research is that the efficiency of the procurement process in any

organization is increased by the adequacy of the existing procurement policies and

procedures and reflected by the extent to which internal customers are satisfied about

procured inputs. Data was mainly collected using a questionnaire (appendix 1) and

analyzed by computer using excel. Additional data was collected through observations

and review of documents. The research covered priority inputs like chemicals, pipes,

water fitting and office equipments wholly funded by NWSC between January 1999 and

June 2001 and the respondents were NWSC senior and middle management (scalel-5)

staff.

The findings reveal that procured inputs in NWSC are of good quality and the

procurement process is can·ied out transparently and in a fair manner and internal

customer were satisfied with that. However the results that procurements are not

made timely, that frequently essential and common items are not available and

there is inadequate procurement coordination. This shortcoming could be the cause

of internal customer complaints about procured inputs. The research has also revealed

inadequacies in procurement polices and procedures as pointed out in section 4.7 the

inadequacies in policies and procedures could actually be the major cause of procurement

weakness in NWSC and causing the internal customer to complain about procured inputs

and contributing to the inefficiency of the public water sector.