Question

• What is joint purchasing
• Benefits/risk of joint purchasing normally
• Benefits of local government joint purchasing – saving money
  • Who does it benefit the most?
• Risks of local government joint purchasing – corruption
  • Who is affected by corruption the most?

Answer 1

Ans.

Joint purchasing is the process by which a government or a commuity decides to reap rhe benefits of bulk purchasing by aggregating demands of different sections and departments of government and making a transparent process for placing order after finalising rules in aspect of quality ,price and after sale services of the products.

Few examples of joint buying by local government is air conditioner , water purifier , stationary, furniture etc.

Benefits of joint purchasing are many fold most important being price benefit .Bulk buying by government results in lowest possible price after a transparent bidding process ,other benefits include uniform quality of the products,fixing of responsibility of after sales services

Joint purchasing results in some risks too, the biggest risk is chances of high level corruption as the whole process of joint purchasing is mostly centralised ,if the peoples associated with bidding process are induced by the bidders they may get lured and engage in corruption which may also be difficult to detect,as high level official indulging in corruption would have power enough to conceal his acts for long time.

Other risks associated with joint purchasing are delay in procurement of products as it is joint purchase it may take time more than usual ,poor after sale services if the vendors don't have offices in all locations ,over purchasing ,delay in replacement of defective product's .

Benefits most ._ Taxpayers The process of joint purchasing benefits most to the ultimate tax payer as all other benefits directly or indirectly leads to spending of public money in the best possible manner by ensuring reduction in price of every item purchased by local government in discharge of duty and public welfare.

Affected most __Taxpayers If joint purchasing by local government leads to generating opportunity of corruption for official associated with the process of purchase and they actually indulge in corruption it will have serious impact on overall process and will jeopardize the basic objective of joint purchasing which is procurement of goods at lowest price and maintaining quality at the same time.Corruption would definitely affect taxpayers most as it will lead to supply of power quality goods and may also force repurchase of goods .