Issues in Electronic Procurement Project Implementation in Local Government

E-Procurement In Malaysia

Prior to 2000, e-procurement was one of the pilot projects under the e-government flagships of the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC). The MSC is Malaysia’s multimedia utopia encompassing both a physical area and a paradigm shift for creating value in the Information Age (Karim & Khalid, 2003). Most e-initiatives were started at the federal level, therefore, once the initiatives are up and running, the state and local governments will then be directed to implement the same systems used at the federal level. The Malaysian scene for e-procurement (EP) is very slow to pick up. At the federal government level, e-procurement started in 2000 with the registration of suppliers and central contract (APEC, 2006), then direct purchase in 2002. Subsequently, the module of quotation and tender went live in 2003 (APEC, 2006). Nevertheless, it is important to note that in Malaysia, the e-procurement system is better known as e-Perolehan which is managed by the Treasury Department, Ministry of Finance, Malaysia (Karim & Khalid, 2003). E-Perolehan streamlines the federal government’s procurement activities so as to improve the quality of service it provides by allowing suppliers to present their products on the Internet. “The suppliers’ product catalogue is then converted into the form of an electronic catalogue” which can be viewed anywhere, anytime (ePerolehan, 2009). Hence, the problem whether e-procurement would have a successful run at the local government level as it had been at the federal and state levels was the gap researched in this paper.