Bribery in Public Procurement: methods, actors and counter-measures sets out the issues in a simple format. Part I of the report examines procurement rules, procedures and practices, and highlights risks in the tendering process. It goes on to look at how size of contracts can affect public procurement bribery, and focuses on individual sectors at risk, from
mining and energy to the arms industry.After establishing links between bribery and other crimes, the typology considers in Part II who is actually involved in bribery. It takes two to tango, and the report describes both the briber and the recipient of the bribe. In short, the first two parts set the stage on which bribery in public procurement is played out, introduce the actors and elucidates the plot.
Part III of the report moves into the detail of how to prevent and punish bribery. It evaluates transparency issues, as well as preventive measures and controls. Bribery is rarely easy to detect, but there may be telltale signs, which this section also describes. One challenge is to train up staff not only to spot the signs, but also to come forward and report them. This raises important issues about teamwork and loyalty. Part III ends by looking at regulations and sanctions that can prevent bribery, and examines how international cooperation should come into play.
In preparing this study, experts from various backgrounds shared their own experiences in fighting bribery and submitted real cases. Part IV presents ten of these anonymous cases. These relate to a range of situations, such as an incident at local authority level, fraud concerning an independent consultant, and bribery at an international aid body. These bribes can be
aimed at winning anything from new contracts to extra work. Together they serve as useful concrete examples in helping readers to understand the challenge of bribery in public procurement.
Finally, in the annex, there is a reminder of the anti-bribery instruments which the OECD has built over the last decade or more. Bribery in Public Procurement: methods, actors and counter-measures fills a gap in helping government to come to grips with what is a particularly tricky area of bribery in a fast changing world. By bringing together national and international thinking in this way, this report is a small though important contribution to the tools modern governments need to fight corruption.
OECD (2007) Bribery in public procurement. Methods, actors and counter-measures. OECD, Paris.
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