Procurement Management and Value for Money in Federal Government Contracts in the FCT

Public procurement management in Nigeria's Federal Capital Territory represents a high-stakes operational domain where systemic weaknesses have contributed to contract abandonment, cost overruns, and diminished value for public money. This study investigates procurement management practices and their relationship with value for money outcomes across 40 federal government contracts awarded in Abuja between 2020 and 2024. Contract documentation obtained from the Bureau of Public Procurement and semi-structured interviews with 18 procurement officers provide the primary data. Procurement management quality is assessed across planning, tendering, evaluation, award, and contract monitoring phases using an adapted performance measurement rubric. Value for money is operationalized through cost variance at completion, specification compliance rates, and delivery time adherence. Correlation and regression analyses identify procurement management dimensions that significantly predict value for money outcomes. Findings reveal that thorough pre-procurement planning and structured contractor performance monitoring are the strongest predictors of value for money, while tendering process quality shows a significant but weaker association. Fifty-two percent of sampled contracts exhibit cost overruns exceeding 25 percent of the awarded value, with the construction and ICT categories showing the highest overrun frequencies. Recommendations include mandatory pre-procurement technical assessments, strengthened contract monitoring protocols, and PGD-level procurement capacity building for federal procurement officers. This research contributes applied insights into improving federal public procurement outcomes in Nigeria. Keywords: procurement management, value for money, public contracts, FCT, procurement efficiency