Assessment of Procurement Methods for Road Construction Projects in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria

Selecting an appropriate procurement strategy is crucial to the successful completion of the project because it establishes the general model and structure of the obligations of the project participants in a contract. However, road infrastructure projects in Akwa-Ibom encounter numerous difficulties and complex performance challenges that are primarily caused by a specific procurement approach rather than the project's requirements and evaluation. This study assessed the commonly adopted procurement methods in the construction of road projects in Akwa-Ibom state and the factors affecting the selection of a procurement strategy in the construction of road projects. An extensive literature review of procurement systems was conducted. The study adopted a descriptive survey design and data were collected using a questionnaire from 150 purposively respondents from ministries, agencies, and institutions saddled with the procurement responsibilities within the state. Data were analyzed descriptively using mean and the factors were ranked according to their relative importance index (RII). The result from the study revealed that traditional and design and build procurement systems are the most used procurement option for new road construction and outsourcing system for the maintenance of existing roads. Project completion within the stipulated time, quality of work, technical complexity/competency of the contractor, and others were revealed to be the influencing factors for the choice of a procurement system. The study recommends that government procuring units should give proper consideration to project requirements and need peculiarities in choosing the best procurement strategy to be deployed as no single procurement strategy is the best.