CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The dictionary of purchasing and supply management defines tendering and competitive bidding as offers from tenderness without callous, usually in scaled enveloped delivered by a time and date specified in the invitation to tendering for supply of goods and services.
Uzor (2004:440) in (Lysons 1996:42) defined tendering as a purchase procedure whereby potential suppliers are invited to make a firm and unequivocal offer of the price and terms which on acceptance shall be the basic of the subsequent contract. 
Frank Harris and Ronald Mc Caffer defined competitive bidding as an invitation by an organization (i.e the client) to supplier to submit its quotation for a job or services required by the client organization the whose main objective is to determine the performance abilities of the supplier.
Tendering and competitive biding is usually required when an organization or a firm needed supply of certain goods such as furniture, generating set, caterpillars, vehicles, drugs, medical equipment, and computers e.t.c
Tendering is widely used in the public sector to ensure observance of the principles of public accountability. It many also be used by private sector organization more especially in respect of construction and services contracts to obtain prices and terms of the contract. According to Compton and Jessap (1989) such tenders are opened only at the time and data specified by the tender panel of qualified persons who records the necessary details the essence of this research therefore is to examine the use of effective bidding in improving public sector procurement.
1.2 STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS
The problems of tending and competitive bidding and its implications on public sector procurement has been identified by many as not only enormous but complex now that there is serious needs on the part of our various government to provide more services with little funds and issue of corruption in our “public life” some of the problems are 
(i) A great numbers of problems have bedeviled sector tendering which has great affection in the quality of contract entered by the public sector organization. 
The entire contract system has gone sour as a result of mis management, corruption mis application of rules and regulation set to be adhered to in contracting for goods and services. 
(ii) The negligent on the part of the various authorities to ensure a uniform codes standard of practice and professional ethics of conduct all have made a complete miss of our public sector tendering. 
(iii) The out data nature of our financial regulation which guide the operations public procurement as well as public sector tendering in the greatest problem of our public sector tendering and therefore has serious implications on the efficiency and effectiveness of public sector contract management and administration. 
(iv) Competitive bidding in public sector procurement usually ends with the lowest price bidder getting the award of the purchasing firm gains a population for negotiation with the towerst bidder after bids are opened. This will make future bidders not to offer their best price initially, believing that they do better in any subsequent negotiation. They will adopt a system of submitting a bid low enough to allow them to be included in any negotiations. But their initial bid will not be as low as when it is anticipated that the award be made to be the lowest bidder without further negotiation. Competitive bidding tends to put great pressure on suppliers to reduce their cost to be able to bed low but profitable prices. This cost pressure may result sacrifice in product quality development efforts and other vital services.