TRANSPARENT AND EFFECTIVE PROCUREMENT IN PUBLIC SECTOR UNIVERSITIES OF KARACHI FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT IN EDUCATION SECTOR

The federal and provincial governments set strict rules and regulations for procurement in public sector universities to ensure transparency and value for money to achieve sustainable development in Education Sector. The United Nations has developed a set of 17 goals called Sustainable Development Goals 2030 and Pakistan is the first country to adopt these goals through Parliament’s unanimous resolution. Ensuring transparent and effective procurement in public sector educational institutions especially in universities is actually fulfilment of the two goals of the SDGs, first one is Goal 4 Quality Education and Goal 16 Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions. Because public universities are governed by the federal or provincial governments, they must adhere to Public Procurement Rules. There are three Public Sector Universities, out of which two are governed and managed by the provincial government of Sindh and one is by Federal government. Procurement is considered as best when goods or services are procured in a process which gave more value for money spent on procurement but in the case of public sector universities, there is a perception that procurement in public sector universities are not cost effective and fair. The objective of this research is to government’s efforts to ensure transparency and effective procurement in public sector universities for achieving the targets of quality education and building strong institutions. This paper has made an attempt to identify the issues and challenges being faced by the public sector universities in procurements due to rigid rules and regulations made for government sector procurement but enforced on universities also just because they are under the administrative control of the federal or provincial governments. In order to conduct an extensive research within limited allocated time, both primary as well as secondary research methods are used in this research.


Introduction
Government and state-owned enterprises/institutions acquire products, services, and works through public procurements. Because public procurement involves a significant amount of taxpayer money, governments are required to execute it effectively and with high standards of behaviour, such as openness and accountability, in order to assure high quality service delivery and protect the public interest. It is seen as a necessary tool for the advancement of society and the nation.
The Karachi mega city has three big public sector universities namely University of Karachi, NED University of Engineering and Technology and Federal Urdu University. The University of Karachi and NED University are working under the provincial government of Sindh but Federal Urdu University is working under the umbrella of Federal government. The focus of my research evolves around these three universities.
The procurement of works, Goods and Services conducted on behalf of any Government organization is marked as Public Procurement. It amounts for about 15% of global GDP and almost half of the annual budget, and it is funded by tax payers; thus it has to be spent efficiently with more value to money and transparently.
In 2015, Pakistan's government approached the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, cognizant of its global commitments and national obligations. Actions such as the unanimous legislative acceptance of the SDGs through a resolution in February 2016, which mainstreamed them in national and provincial policy frameworks and development strategies, reinforced this understanding.The National Economic Council of the Government endorsed the 'National Framework of SDGs' in March 2018 to prioritize the SDGs in Pakistan's long-term development perspective. The framework offers provinces with direction on how to align their particular development goals with the SDGs, based on local needs.
The United Nations Commission on International Trade and Law was founded as the international institution in charge of overseeing public procurement (UNCITRAL). The United Nations General Assembly established this world body on December 17, 1966, with Resolution No 2205, with the goal of promoting gradual convergence and unification of international trade law. ISSN (P):2788-4821 & ISSN (O): 2788-483X Volume 3, Issue 1, Page 55-68, April 30, 2022 (Special Issue) UNCITRAL drafted a Model Law for the Procurement of Goods, Works, and Services in 1994, which was later revised in 2011. This paper was regarded as the most important worldwide milestone in the reform of public procurement law. The fundamental concepts and key components of the 1994 text were not altered. This Model Law of Public Procurement lays out all of the procedures and principles for getting the best value for money and preventing procurement process abuses. To achieve these purposes, the law's wording encourages impartiality, fairness, participation, competitiveness, and honesty. Transparency is another important criterion, since it allows for public confirmation of conformity with procedures and standards.
On the request of donor agencies, Pakistan passed the Public Procurement Ordinance in 2002 and the Public Procurement Rules in 2004. All four provinces have occasionally implemented their own Public Procurement Acts and rules, following the lead of the federal government. These Rules are based on the UNCITRAL model Law of Public Procurement, which is the mother law. It provides methods and concepts for obtaining the best value for money and avoiding procurement abuses. Transparency, fairness, and competitiveness are all promoted by these standards, as are the ideas of evident conformance with commonly accepted norms and processes.
Prior to the foundation of the Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA), public procurement was managed by the West Pakistan B&R code, General Financial Rules and Power Delegation Rules, Pakistan Engineering Council standards, and the Purchase Manual. Sindh Industries was in charge of the "Sindh Purchase Manual 1977," which was used for centralized procurement. Later, the "Sindh Purchase Manual 1991" was finalized, allowing for faster, more competitive, and distributed purchases while still including the Industries Department in both purchasing and inspection. Because of the large amount of money at risk in public procurement throughout the 1990s, taxpayers and other stakeholders (industry, media, civil society, funders, and international organizations) sought monitoring and accountability in this area of public sector management and governance. At the same time, there was a rising awareness of the need to enhance expenditure efficiency and economy, bridge the credibility gap, and match international standards in order to meet investor expectations, among other things. The creation of five PPRAs has so aided the government in regulating procurement and achieving its objectives.

H1:
Goods, services and work procured in public sector universities are significantly satisfactory and procurements are being carried out in accordance with the rules and regulations.
Ho: Goods, services and work procured in public sector universities are not satisfactory and procurements are being carried out are not in accordance with the rules and regulations.

Procurement Cycle
From establishing a specific demand or need for the company/institution through awarding the contract, the procurement cycle has several parts. The figure below depicts a nine-step procurement process derived from the World Bank website. The process begins with a requirement assessment, budgeting, selecting a procurement method, managing the bidding process, and contract implementation. ISSN

Public Procurement in Pakistan
In Pakistan, public procurement is becoming a specialized professional specialty. It has been ongoing since 2004, with the introduction of a controlled legislative framework at the federal level and adoption by the provinces. However, it began with a poor perception of practitioners, leading to a focus on procedural and accountability issues. Pakistan is a federal republic with four province administrations. Following the National Anti-Corruption Strategy (

Public Procurement legal framework
Public Procurement Rules 2004 is a very strong subordinate legislation drafted in a fairly simple language, prescribing step-by-step procedural aspects and addressing needs of most of the public procurement needs. Admittedly, it is a much better procurement framework vis-àvis GFRs and/or Purchase Manuals. In contrast to generalized GFRs, the PP Rules provides for different procurement methods -starting from as simple as 'Single Stage -One Envelop' to as complex as 'Two Stage -Two Envelop'; provides for alternate methods of procurements (Rule 42); ensures disclosure of bid evaluation reports and have standardised the procurement process. Besides, the Federal Procurement Rules 2004 applies to all federal public entities using public funds, including public sector companies. This is the striking feature of PP Rules 2004 that instead of GFRs' limited application over government bureaus; it has overriding jurisdiction on the companies' procurement and commercial activities. Despite being a very strong legislation, the PP Rules 2004 do exhibit certain limitations, which results in inefficiencies. First, the Rules limit use of positive discretion by the practitioners making it a rigid legal framework; e.g. Rules 9, 10, 12, 13, 40 and 42 are rigid procedures allowing little or no flexibility in complex and time-bound procurements. Second, explicit bar on negotiations has encouraged price pooling among the bidders and the procuring agencies are at the risk of procurement complications and subsequent audit paras. Third, the Rules introduced straightjacketed procuring agencies in procedural aspects, while true focus on value for money is lost which is rarely put into question by PAOs and even Courts which held lowest bidders bonafide and higher 'lowest evaluated bid' as malafide. improvement in CPI; impact of some of the provincial amendments esp. Sindh's experience in PPP and Grievance mechanism; Punjab's experiment of relaxing the law for public sector companies; KP's e-bidding system; and Indian and Chinese recent procurement reforms. The limited success of PP Rules 2004, despite being a good legal framework, is making a case for systematic reforms and suitable amendments in the procurement rules allowing room for efficient, innovative and inclusive public procurements by taking inspirations from evidence presented in this section.

Sustainable Development Goals and Public Procurement
Transparent and effective procurement in public sector universities are helpful in ensuring sustainable development in education sector and contributing in achieving the targets of Sustainable Development Goals 2030 of the United Nations. Pakistan is the first developing nation who adopted these targets and prioritizing its efforts to meet out the targets of SDG set by the UN. The difficulty of reaching the SDGs is enormous, since it necessitates vast government competencies and competences, policy and strategy revisions, and a paradigm shift in the country's development framework. For developing countries like Pakistan, translating the ambitious SDG agenda into a feasible action plan and selecting country-specific objectives and indicators is a significant issue.If Pakistan ensure effectiveness and transparency in public procurements at public sector universities, then Pakistan can achieve following sustainable development goals.

Sustainable Development Goal 4 : Quality Education
Quality education is 4 th Sustainable Development Goal, and it has direct relationship with the procurement at public sector universities. One of the target under the SDG 4 is "By 2030, ensure that all learners acquire the knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development, including, among others, through education for sustainable development and sustainable lifestyles, human rights, gender equality, promotion of a culture of peace and nonviolence, global citizenship and appreciation of cultural diversity and of culture's contribution to sustainable development". With quality procurement we can achieve the goal of sustainable development.

Sustainable Development Goal 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
Building responsible and inclusive institutions at all levels is the sixteenth goal of the global Sustainable Development Goal 2030, and one of the targets under this goal is to construct effective transparent institutions and significantly eliminate corruption and bribery. Most of the financial corruptions are made during the procurement of goods and services in any institution. In order to achieve this target government must eliminate bribery and corruption in procurements of public sector universities.

Lack of Funds
Low level of economic development of the country and less per capita income are the major reasons for less availability or lack of funds. Being public sector universities, they cannot charge high fees from students as other private universities are being charges because the objective of the public sector universities are to provide quality education to students belonging to every walk of life. Due to poverty, poor people find it hard to send their children to private universities so they prefer to send their children in public universities. Since the public sector universities are not for profit universities, so they don't have sufficient funds to procure quality goods and services as compare to private universities and it is presumed that quality procurements are not being made.

Management Reasons
Proper planning and coordination is lacking, there is overlapping of functions after the devolution plan, management is not clear about their responsibilities, decisions are taken in haphazard, the reforms and innovation required adequate orientation. Instead of thoughtful planning to meet the challenges and development of contemporary era, ad hoc decisions are made, which are not long lasting and creating conflicting problems at grass root level in exercising of quality procurements. Work force lack ability and motivation, methods adopted by them are outdated need to improve their productivity and efficiency. The policies framed by administration are short term instead of long term creating gap between demand and supply of educational output. Many good reforms become ineffective due to mismanagement.

Lack of Awareness
Government is not sensitized with the significance of procurement in education sector especially in universities which require quick and quality goods and services without any delay and procurement made in private sector universities are significantly effective and cost effective as they procure goods and services from competitive market directly.

Political Interference and Role of Bureaucracy
It is observed that our political governments mainly use educational institutes as their base camps. In school, college and university level, they try to recruit only their own relatives or use these jobs as an election bribe to get more votes from them and during elections; they use these employees to get desired election results. Role of bureaucracy is also very dubious in the name of rules and regulation and most of the regulatory bodies & other high ups even take no interest in monitoring procurement process. Although Chief Minister Sindh in his budget  speech said that education will remain the top priority.

Corruption and Nepotism
Corruption in procurement in public sector universities is one of the causes of poor quality goods and services in public sector universities in Karachi. Many officials with the backing of bureaucracy and political masters are involved in corruption as in 2016, the NAB started an investigation for irregularities in University of Karachi which is still pending.

Infrastructure (Basic Facilities)
Public Sector universities are usually situated in larger areas and has number of buildings and infrastructures which needs frequent maintenance and renovation and university cannot engage itself continuously in procurement.

Lacking in Sustainable Development Goals
The due importance is not being given to all the targets set under the Goal 4 and Goal 16, that is why people have lost their faith in government and procurement in public sector universities are facing several challenges. If the government adhere all the targets of goal 4 i.e. Quality Education and Goal 16 i.e. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, Pakistan can achieve Sustainable Development in education sector.

Research Methodology
To conduct this research both primary as well as secondary source of data is explored. A structured survey form was designed to know about the perception of students, faculty and staff of the public sector universities about the procurement at public sector universities at Karachi as they are end users of the goods and services procured by the public sector universities. However, books, government publications, rules & regulations publications and research articles are also consulted to thoroughly research on this topic. This research approach takes subjective facts through the utilization of pragmatic resources such as documents, observational records, recording, audio-visual aids and materials, transcript, notes, journal, artefacts and narratives. Therefore, this research work is qualitative in type, using analysis of documents and other literature. The research method adopted in this thesis is a qualitative and quantitative in which the secondary documents covering qualitative and quantitative evidences are analyzed and thereof, findings have been gathered from it, and results of the survey responses are tested on SPSS.
A population of 200 students and 50 faculty/staff member were randomly selected from each university using stratified random sampling techniques to conduct the survey.
The survey form was designed and created on google forms and circulated electronically on WhatsApp groups of students, teachers and administrative staff (except administrative and financial staff involved in procurement).

Discussion
The responses of the respondents were received electronically through google forms and analyzed on SPSS for its validity and interpretation. The detailed discussion and analysis of each question is as under:

Age of Respondent
The first question was about the age of the respondent was asked from the respondents to ascertain the maturity of the respondent. Out of total 176 respondents, 54% are belonging from the age group of 29-35 and then 18% each from the age group of 24-29 and 36-45 each. That means the most of the respondents were mature enough to answer such questions asked in this survey form. ISSN  2. Status/ Designation of Respondent 59.1% of the respondents are students and 25% of the respondents are teachers /faculty members and remaining 15.9% of the population sample is from staff. This depicts that the majority of the response are of students and then faculty.

Do you think that goods and services procured in universities through transparent process?
The majority of the population is of the neutral view that goods and services procured in public sector universities through transparent view and 47.7% of the population is agree and strongly agree that the procurement is made through transparent process. However, 20.4% population is disagree that goods and services are being procured transparently.

Do you think Universities are accountable to any authority at Provincial or
Federal level? 45.5% of the total respondents are strongly agree and 29.5% are agreed that the public sector universities are accountable to government authorities at provincial and federal which means that when there is accountability there is chances of less corruption because when any institution is accountable to someone then they act in accordance with law. Only 6.8% are disagreed that public sector universities are accountable to government.

Do you think Public Procurement Rules are being strictly followed in Public
Sector Universities? 59.1% of the sample population is agreed that the Public Procurement Rules are being followed in public sector universities while procuring goods and services. If the public sector universities are following rules and regulations, that means there are less chances of corruption and other irregularities. However, 22.8% respondents believed that the prescribed rules are not being followed in the government universities in Karachi.

Do you think Procurements in Public Sector Universities are time taking
process? Majority of the respondents i.e. 81.1% believes that procurement in public sector universities is a time taking process. There are several reasons and one of them is rigid and strict rules of procurement which compel universities to follow the process in which is a lengthy process.

Do you think Procurements in Public Sector Universities are Corruption
Free? According to perception of the 50% of the respondents, the procurement process is not corruption free which means they believe that there might be corruption in procurement in public sector universities. However, 34.1% of the respondents are of the view that procurements in public sector universities of Karachi are corruption free. 15.9% of the respondent's response was neutral.

Do you think Procurements in Public Sector Universities are paperless and hassle Free?
64 Transparent and Effective Procurement in Public Sector Universities of Karachi for Sustainable Development in Education Sector 31.9% of the sample population is of the view that the procurement in public sector universities are paper less and hassle free but 61.4% respondents are disagree and they believe that procurement in public universities are not hassle free and paperless and it requires more paper work than the private sector.

Good and Services procured by public sector universities have good value for money?
40.9% of the sample population agree & strongly agree that goods and services procured in public sector universities using Public Procurement Rules have good value for money, however, 18.2% disagree and strongly disagree that it has good value for money. Surprisingly, 38.6% responded neutrally that means they don't know or they don't think so that either procurement in public universities have good value for money or not.

Do you think application of Public Procurement Rules on Universities has
improved the accountability? 61.4% population of the selected sample is agreed and strongly agreed that application of public procurement rules on universities has improved the accountability as the rules ensured that procurement should be transparent and no ambiguity is permissible under the rules, therefore, application of rules has improved the accountability in public sector universities. Only 9.1% of the population sample is disagree with the statement that accountability has been improved due to application of procurement rules. However, 29.5% respondents given neutral response on the above question.

Use of Information Technology in Procurement can increase transparency?
Use of information technology in procurement process can increase the transparency because 88.6% of the respondents are agreed and strongly agreed with it. Only 2.3% are disagree with this assumption that transparency can be increased due to use of information technology in procurement in public sector.

What do you think that which one is the biggest issue in procurement in
Pakistan? The biggest issue of the procurement in public sector is Corruption as 38.6% of the respondent voted for the corruption as biggest challenge of the procurement. The second biggest issue is lack of funds as 27.3% population ranked it as the biggest challenge. Mismanagement is the third biggest issue of procurement as 20.5% of the respondents believe that it is the biggest issue.

Are you satisfied with the building infrastructure of the your university?
50% of the population is satisfied with the building infrastructure and 30% of the population is neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the building infrastructure that means most of the population is satisfied with the building infrastructure procured through works, indicating that procurement in public sector universities are done upto the satisfaction of the end users.

Are you satisfied with the transport (bus points) procured by the university?
The majority of the sample population is not satisfied with buses procured in public sector universities of Karachi as 41.9% population is not satisfied with the transport. However, 34.9% ISSN (P):2788-4821 & ISSN (O): 2788-483X Volume 3, Issue 1, Page 55-68, April 30, 2022 (Special Issue) population is satisfied with the transport procured by their university and 23.3% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with procurement of buses in public universities of Karachi.

Are you satisfied with the Furniture and equipment Procured by the university for students?
41% of the respondents are dissatisfied with the quality of equipment and furniture procured by the university for the students and 31.8% are neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the furniture and equipment. However, 27.3% of the respondents are satisfied with the furniture and equipment procured by the universities at Karachi. It means that the procurement of furniture and equipment has some flaws as compare to procurement of building infrastructure and transport.
16. Are you satisfied with the services procured by your university? 34.1% of the sample population agree & strongly agree that they are satisfied with the services procured in public sector universities, however, 25% disagree and strongly disagree that they are not satisfied with the services. Surprisingly, 40.9% responded neutrally that means they don't know or they don't think so that either procurement of services in public universities good or bad.

Do you think Public Universities should keep following existing rules of the government and should not procure things directly as compare to Private
Universities.
Majority of the population are satisfied with the existing system of the procurement at public sector universities a 38.6% of the sample population is strongly agreed that public sector universities should keep following the existing rules of the government for procurement and 29.5 are just agreed which accumulated total 68.1% of the total sample. Only 13.6% of the population is disagree and strongly disagree with the existing procurement procedure and they believe that public sector universities should procure things as private universities used to do.

Hypothesis Testing
The data collected through survey questionnaire has been tested on Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) and variables of hypothesis are tested as below. The hypothesis is accepted.

Conclusion
In view of the above discussion and hypothesis testing, it can be concluded that the hypothesis "Procurement in public sector universities is a time taking process but public procurement rules are significantly contributing in accountability and transparency" is accepted. Public Procurement in Pakistan has emerged as a professional discipline with growing attention amid procedural issues and accountability fixation. This article has been written in the context of dichotomy in the intended aims and problems being faced by the public procurement in public sector universities in Karachi. Notwithstanding the trust deficit among the stakeholders, the foregoing analysis has shown that the Public Procurement in Pakistan, especially Public Procurement Rules 2004, withstood the test of time and survived owing to its inherent strengths and the vacuum of procurement legislation it has filled since 2004. Owing to the limited research into the public procurement in public universities in Karachi, primary data from the students, faculty and staff of these universities was obtained, which overwhelmingly supported the research hypothesis of this paper and suggested that the existing system of procurement of the public sector universities is more efficient and encourage transparency and accountability and end users are satisfied with it although it is a time taking process. It can also be concluded that the Pakistan can achieve the Sustainable Development through quality education and building strong institution by ensuring effective and transparent procurement which can be possible with the help of SDG 2030 targets.