Public procurement policies and strategies for capacity building of SME construction firms in Ghana

The importance of public procurement in achieving the governments' socio-economic objectives is acknowledged worldwide. This study therefore sought to empirically ascertain public procurement policies and strategies that can help build the capacity of the SME construction firms in Ghana. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative methods in data gathering and analysis (i.e., one sample t-test and factor analysis). The study revealed the following procurement policies and strategies as important for capacity building of SME construction firms: streamlining procurement procedures to make them more transparent and standard, strict adherence to payment schedules of contracts, and provision of general local content criteria in the evaluation of tenders. However, the implementation of these interventions alone will not build the capacities of the target construction firms unless they position themselves well in order to take advantage. It is believed that the identified procurement policies and strategies will help in creating an enabling environment for capacity building of the SME construction firms.