Curbing Corruption in Procurement
Curbing Corruption in Procurement
Curbing Corruption In Procurement is a guide for government officials, businesses and civil society for the risks of corruption in public procurement. The tool is a practical guide which outlines key principles and some standards that can help protect public contracting from being corrupted.
This valuable material is a project by Transparency International as the product of its research and effort to help users gain practical and useful knowledge and apply in situations where risks of corruption in public procurement will likely occur.
The following are the four major sections outlining their respective contents.
1. The Problem of Corruption in Public Procurement
In this material, the term ‘public procurement’ means that “acquisition by government department or any government-owned institution of goods or services” (Curbing Corruption in Public Procurement 2014 p.6).
This form of corruption and in all its forms arises in every phase of procurement process in the form of abuse of entrusted power by low- and mid-level public officials.
The material mentions that this form of corrupt practice can be initiated by the private sector (the supply side) or by a government official (the demand side). The most common form of public procurement corruption is ‘bribery of government officials’ particularly when awarding contracts in an illegal or unfair manner.
Another form of this corruption is manipulating budget allocations and project selection, bribing in a form of gifts, money, jobs or any favors for family members and donations to political parties, etc.
The materials mentions Four Key Stages of the Public Procurement Process through which one can offer help or do something to help prevent corruption in various phases of the procurement process: planning, bidding, bid-evaluation, and implementation and monitoring.
When corruption actually happens during the procurement process, there are various realistic and foreseen impacts, such as: financial, environmental, on health, human safety and other social goals; innovation and erosion of value and trust in government.
2. Principles and Minimum Standards
The materials says that there are certain principles that when respected will minimize the risks of corruption and will certainly maximize possibilities for economic, social, environmental and other relevant benefits to the society at large. These principles include: integrity, transparency, accountability, fairness, efficiency and professionalism all throughout the procurement process.
Procurement-specific laws and regulations and other related legal instruments are essential in securing transparency and accountability.
Second, there are minimum standards that can help prevent corruption in public procurement which are actually well-developed in international legal and regulatory frameworks as guides to national procurement processes.
For example, the material mentions the United Nations Convention against Corruption (UNCAC), the most comprehensive and widely ratified convention which “obligates states to criminalize, investigate and prosecute all forms of corruption…”.
In addition to UNCAC, the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention obligates states to impose realistic and effective sanctions for corrupt conducts and for breaching any anti-corruption measures. Moreover, some states have Independent Complaints Mechanisms that can provide or support complaints from individuals or groups, e.g. anti-corruption or ethics agencies in government or private sector, a central anti-corruption office or ombudsperson, hotline for corruption, among others.
3. Critical Issues in the Procurement Process
There are special risk factors that procurement officials should be aware about and take steps to prevent possible corruption. These risk factors and circumstances include: ‘urgent purchases’, inadequate access to information, use of non-standardised bidding documents, emergency responses to natural disasters and other events, participation of officials-owned companies, participation of front or shell companies, decentralization of procurement to national and sub-national levels, participation of state-owned enterprises, sector vulnerability, and negotiated procedures. Please, learn more about them by visiting the origin through the link at the end of this page.
Second, there is a checklist for government officials that the material proposed to highlight key elements for each procurement phase and ‘red flags’ for officials to think again to go about integrity processes. The checklist for government officials includes: planning, bidding, bid evaluation, contract implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. For each phase, there are red flags and then suggested actions to take to prevent corruption per phase in the procurement process.
4. Tools to Improve the Procurement Process
The material then proceeds by offering tools that can help improve the procurement process. The tools include collaborative approaches, such as through agencies, the private sector and civil society.
In particular, the checklist that officials should follow so as to avoid and prevent corruption during the procurement process. The checklist includes: entering into integrity pacts, external monitoring of the contracting process (e.g. e-procurement, social witness programme, other forms of civil society monitoring) and sector specific action (such as extractive industries transparency initiative – EITI -, construction sector transparency initiative – COST -, medicines transparency alliance – META).
Please, learn more about this valuable tool that is useful in curbing corruption in public procurement process.
Click the link to find the material:
http://www.transparency.org/whatwedo/publication/curbing_corruption_in_public_procurement_a_practical_guide
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