Several Aspects of Countering Corruption Schemes in the Public Procurement Sphere

Abstract

The article actualizes the current aspects of the public procurement system, taking into account the innovations of tender legislation and practices of economic management. The problematic impact of the corruption component in the tender sphere on the socio-economic transformations in the country is defined, in particular a number of negative consequences of financial-economic nature as a result of the implementation of unfair and illegal agreements between the participant and the organizer of procurement procedures are allocated and substantiated. On the basis of analysis of information sources of various nature, a number of basic and relevant corruption schemes ar systematized, which, despite the novations in the legislation, can be used by the parties to a bidding, namely, the anti-competitive concerted actions of the participants; winning of one of the interrelated participants; admission to the bidding of the economic entity with a ban on participation in the procedure; overestimating the expected value of the purchase item; substitution of the purchase item; under-performed works; discrimination of the participant; selectivity of participants in the estimation of tender proposals. In order to identify illegal activities during procurement procedures, a system of signs-indicators inherent in various corrupt procurement schemes is formed and characterized. Practical ways to counter corruption offenses in the sphere of public procurement, providing for the use of a number of economic-legal regulatory instruments based on the integrated interaction of the State control bodies, economic entities and civil society institutions, are proposed.

Keywords

• tender procurement system
• participant
• bidding organizer
• corruption scheme
• related person
• anti-competitive concerted action
• discrimination
• countermeasures