http://www.ijssit.com © Maina, Muturi 1 EFFECT OF EMPLOYEE COMPETENCE ON IMPLEMENTATION OF E-PROCUREMENT IN KISII COUNTY GOVERNMENT, KENYA 1* Maina Onkangi Vincent mainaprocurement@gmail.com 2** Willy Muturi mmuturi2001@gmail.com 1,2 Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya Abstract: Electronic procurement has become a household name in many organizations these days. This is because many of them have witnessed or tried-out the benefits associated with it. The main objective of this research was to determine the factors affecting implementation of e-procurement with a specific objective to ascertain the employee competence and its impact on the implementation of e-procurement within Kisii county government in Kenya. This study employed descriptive research design that gained an in-depth understanding of the connection that existed between the accomplishment of e- procurement and the performance of procurement among Kenyan county governments. The research adopted a simple random sampling technique which was used to get a sample population of 106 staff. The results show that there is high level of employee competence which has in turn improved implementation of e-procurement, that they are trained in e- procurement concepts and that the training they have in e-procurement has made it possible to improve on the performance of projects. The null hypothesis which stated that “employee competence has no significant effect on the implementation of e-procurement in Kisii county government” was rejected leading to the conclusion that employee competence has a significant effect on the implementation of e-procurement in Kisii county government. Keywords: County Government, Electronic Payment, Less Developed Countries 1. Introduction Procurement is an undertaking of business management that is charged with the responsibility of assisting it to determine, source and access the external resources that an entity may require. Ongola (2017) on the impediments to effective implementation of e-procurement among the supermarkets’ supply chain management in Nairobi and its environs reported that as much as management involvement, employee competence and management commitment had a positive effect on implementation of e-procurement, there existed a negative correlation between the cost of implementation and implementation of e-procurement. Arunga and Paul (2017) on the factors affecting the adoption of e-procurement practices in public sector in Kenya developed sufficient reasons to believe that infrastructure, ethical malpractice and technical skills were vital factors in influencing e-procurement. However, the study stated that compliance strictness in use by the refugee affairs was not a significant factor in influencing e-procurement. The study discussed in favor of e- procurement adoption by claiming that, through it, an organization is able to purchase high quality of goods, leads to timely purchases, and leads to stock out reduction.