Module 5: Preventing corruption in project procurement

Competition

As far as is reasonable and proportionate, use an open competitive bidding process. While this does not eliminate the risk of corruption (i.e. there can still be cartels, or collusion between a bidder and a manager of the procuring organisation), it makes corruption more difficult.
If a pre-qualification process is to be used (where organisations need to be pre-approved from a technical and financial perspective before they are invited to bid for a contract), then ensure that the same principles set out in this Module are applied to the pre-qualification process as to the bid process.
There is a balance between corruption reduction and the cost and efficiency of the bid process. Therefore, cost thresholds for requiring competitive bids should be reasonable, so as to appropriately balance the risk and cost.
The splitting of the proposed purchase into smaller contracts, with the result that each contract falls below a competitive bid threshold, should be prohibited unless there is a very good commercial or technical reason to do so, and the split has been approved at appropriate management level.
Avoid single source procurement unless there is no alternative. The circumstances allowing single source procurement should be clearly specified, and require senior management approval. See Page 16, Control of Exemptions.

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