Procurement budgeting and quality of service delivery in the Ministry of Education and Sports. A cross-sectional study.

Background. Effective procurement budgeting is essential for the timely acquisition of goods and services; however, public entities often experience budget ceilings, delayed releases, and unpredictable funding, which may undermine service delivery. This study examined the influence of procurement budgeting on the quality-of-service delivery in the Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) of South Sudan. Methodology. A case study design was used where quantitative and qualitative approaches were adopted on a population of 89 subjects consisting of accounting officers, contracts committee members, user department heads, heads of units and sections, and PDU staff. The study used purposive and census sampling. Data was collected using questionnaires, interviewing respondents, and documentary review approaches. This was analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analyses. Results. Respondents were predominantly male (72.9%), with 57.1% holding university degrees. Procurement budgeting practices revealed strengths such as the preparation of annual work plans (Mean = 3.87) and integration of procurement plans into sector expenditure programs (Mean = 3.94). Service delivery was rated low on tangibility and reliability, with mean scores for physical facilities (2.10), communication materials (2.10), timely services (1.96), and supplier reliability (2.10). Correlation results revealed a moderate positive relationship between procurement budgeting and service delivery (r = 0.355, p = 0.003). Regression analysis showed that procurement budgeting predicted 11.3% of the variance in service delivery (Adjusted R² = 0.113). Conclusion The study revealed that Procurement budgeting had a moderately significant relationship with the quality of service delivery. Recommendation. The MoES and other PDEs in their procurement budgeting should: In view of the limited resources, priorities should be clearly set out and adhered to in each financial year in the entity.