Performance Feedback to Procuring Entities and the Uptake of E-Procurement in Ghana

Last registered on September 28, 2026
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Pre-Trial

Trial Information

General Information

Title
Performance Feedback to Procuring Entities and the Uptake of E-Procurement in Ghana
RCT ID
AEARCTR-0019747
Initial registration date
September 16, 2026

Initial registration date is when the trial was registered.

It corresponds to when the registration was submitted to the Registry to be reviewed for publication.

First published
September 28, 2026, 8:39 AM EDT

First published corresponds to when the trial was first made public on the Registry after being reviewed.

Locations

Country
Ghana
Region

Primary Investigator

Name
Qianmiao Chen
Affiliation
World Bank Group
Contact Primary Investigator

Other Primary Investigator(s)

PI Name
Stuart Russell
PI Affiliation
World Bank
Contact Investigator

Additional Trial Information

Status
In development
Start date
2026-09-01
End date
2027-11-01
Keywords
Governance
Additional Keywords
JEL code(s)
H57, D73, H83
Secondary IDs
Prior work
This trial does not extend or rely on any prior RCTs.
Abstract
Ghana's Public Procurement Authority (PPA) carries out a national assessment of how public entities, such as ministries, district assemblies, hospitals and universities, manage their procurement. After each assessment, PPA sends every entity a report with its results and recommendations. Ghana has also introduced an electronic procurement system (GHANEPS), but many entities still carry out much of their procurement outside it. This study tests whether changes to how assessment results are communicated to procuring entities can improve their procurement practices.
External Link(s)

Registration Citation

Citation
Chen, Qianmiao and Stuart Russell. 2026. "Performance Feedback to Procuring Entities and the Uptake of E-Procurement in Ghana." AEA RCT Registry. September 28. https://doi.org/10.1257/rct.19747-1.0
Sponsors & Partners
Experimental Details

Interventions

Intervention(s)
PPA sends every procuring entity a report with its results and recommendations after the national procurement assessment. This study varies the format of that communication and who receives it.
Control group: the entity receives PPA's standard assessment report, delivered as it is today.
Treatment 1: the entity receives the standard report plus a one-page performance snapshot, sent to the head of the procurement unit. The snapshot highlights a small number of priority indicators, including the entity's use of the national e-procurement system (GHANEPS) and its use of competitive procurement methods, and suggests next steps.
Treatment 2: the same as Treatment 1, and the one-page snapshot is also sent directly to the head of the entity. The procurement unit is informed that the head of entity has received a copy.
Intervention Start Date
2026-11-02
Intervention End Date
2027-03-01

Primary Outcomes

Primary Outcomes (end points)
GHANEPS usage rate
Share of procurement value awarded through open competitive methods
Primary Outcomes (explanation)
GHANEPS usage rate: the share of a procuring entity's total procurement value awarded through GHANEPS in the 12 months after the intervention. The numerator is the value of contract awards recorded in GHANEPS (from its monthly OCDS data). The denominator is the entity's total contract value recorded in PPA's national assessment for the same period. We will also report a version based on the number of contracts instead of their value.
Share of procurement value awarded through open competitive methods: the value of contracts awarded through National or International Competitive Tendering (NCT/ICT), divided by the entity's total contract value. This is measured with PPA's national assessment contract data, plus GHANEPS data where available.

Secondary Outcomes

Secondary Outcomes (end points)
Secondary Outcomes (explanation)

Experimental Design

Experimental Design
Procuring entities covered by PPA's national procurement assessment are randomly assigned in equal proportions to three groups: a control group that receives the standard assessment report, a first treatment group that also receives a one-page performance snapshot addressed to the head of the procurement unit, and a second treatment group in which that snapshot is also sent to the head of entity. Random assignment is at the entity level, stratified by entity type and by baseline procurement performance. The three groups are compared over the 12 months after delivery using administrative data.
Experimental Design Details
Not available
Randomization Method
Randomization done in office by a computer. The research team will use statistical software with a fixed, recorded random seed to assign entities to groups within strata. The assignment code and seed will be kept for reproducibility.
Randomization Unit
Procuring entity (public institutions covered by PPA's national procurement assessment, such as ministries, departments and agencies, metropolitan/municipal/district assemblies, hospitals, and universities and colleges). Randomization is done at a single level, within strata defined by entity type and baseline procurement performance.
Was the treatment clustered?
No

Experiment Characteristics

Sample size: planned number of clusters
800 procuring entities
Sample size: planned number of observations
800 procuring entities
Sample size (or number of clusters) by treatment arms
267 procuring entities in the control group (standard report), 267 in Treatment 1 (snapshot to the head of the procurement unit), 266 in Treatment 2 (snapshot also sent to the head of entity)
Minimum detectable effect size for main outcomes (accounting for sample design and clustering)
Supporting Documents and Materials
IRB

Institutional Review Boards (IRBs)

IRB Name
IRB Approval Date
IRB Approval Number
Analysis Plan