The Role of E-Government Procurement (e-GP) Systems in Mitigating Administrative Corruption and Enhancing Bureaucratic Transparency: An Empirical Assessment of Nepal's Public Sector

• Blessing Emmanuel

  Author

Public procurement constitutes a significant portion of national expenditure in developing nations, yet remains highly vulnerable to corruption and administrative inefficiency. Nepal, ranking 108th out of 180 countries on the Corruption Perception Index, allocates approximately 60-70% of its national budget to public procurement, with corruption losses estimated between 10-25% of contract value. Despite the Government of Nepal's introduction of electronic Government Procurement (e-GP) systems, comprehensive empirical assessment of their effectiveness in mitigating corruption and enhancing transparency remains limited. This study addresses this gap through a mixed-methods empirical assessment of Nepal's e-GP implementation across federal, provincial, and local government levels. Using survey data from 384 procurement officials and administrators across all seven provinces, supplemented by secondary analysis of procurement records from 2018-2025, the research evaluates e-GP's impact on corruption reduction, transparency enhancement, and administrative efficiency. Key findings indicate that e-GP implementation has achieved 89.4% effectiveness in reducing direct collusion opportunities in tender processing, with 82.3% of respondents reporting improved transparency in bid evaluation processes. However, significant implementation barriers persist, including inadequate ICT infrastructure (reported by 67.8% of respondents), limited digital literacy among procurement officials (61.2%), and fragmented system adoption across local governments. The study contributes a validated framework for assessing e-procurement anti-corruption capabilities and provides actionable recommendations for strengthening Nepal's digital governance infrastructure. These findings have significant implications for developing nations pursuing digital transformation as an anti-corruption strategy.

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Copyright (c) 2026 Blessing Emmanuel (Author)

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