Combatting Corruption and Collusion in Public Procurement: A Challenge for Governments Worldwide

’Corruption’ in public procurement typically involves procurement decisions taken in favour of preferred bidders in exchange for improper compensation (the acceptance of bribes, for example), while supplier collusion refers to a type of cartel activity, in which firms rig their bids in a tendering process. Although these practices are distinct, they frequently occur together in the public procurement context, reinforcing one another. Combatting Corruption and Collusion in Public Procurement: A Challenge for Governments Worldwide examines the causes of corruption and collusion in the public procurement sphere, its resulting harm, and how states can best try to combat these practices.

This book provides a legal, economic, and practical analysis of issues concerning corruption and supplier collusion in public procurement, both generally and in seven diverse and representative jurisdictions: the United Kingdom, the United States, Brazil, Hungary and Poland, Ukraine, and Canada. It encompasses a discussion of both ’generic’ cross-jurisdictional issues and specific proposals for individual jurisdictions. It offers practical guidance on building robust regimes for combatting corruption and collusion in public procurement and how to bolster and improve them when they are faltering. The book stresses the need for a multi-faceted and joined-up approach to the problems, emphasizing the importance both of enhanced investment in the effective enforcement of anti-corruption and cartel laws and of increasing the resilience of public procurement systems to corruption and collusion through a range of measures. The relevance of the topic to the social and economic well-being of citizens and the survival of democratic governance is highlighted throughout the book.

Pioneering and comprehensive, Combatting Corruption and Collusion in Public Procurement provides a pathbreaking analysis of a range of global issues, making it an essential read for scholars, lawyers, government officials and representatives of international and non-governmental organizations around the world.

Robert D. Anderson, Honorary Professor of Law, University of Nottingham, Alison Jones, Professor of Law, King’s College London, William E. Kovacic, Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy, The George Washington University Law School

Robert D. Anderson is Honorary Professor in the School of Law at the University of Nottingham and is on the part-time external faculty of the International Master’s Program in Public Procurement Management of the University of Rome Tor Vergata and its sister program at the University of Belgrade. He was previously Senior Counsellor and Team Leader for Government Procurement and Competition Policy in the World Trade Organization (WTO) Secretariat in Geneva, Switzerland.

Alison Jones is a Professor of Law at King’s College London. She is the co-author of a core text on EU Competition Law, ’Jones and Sufrin’s EU Competition Law: Text, Cases, and Materials’ (Oxford University Press). She is a Competition and Markets Authority ICN Non-Governmental Advisor and has also prepared expert reports for the European Commission, the UK Government and the US House Committee of the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial, and Administrative Law.

William E. Kovacic is Global Competition Professor of Law and Policy at George Washington University. Previously he was the George Mason University Foundation Professor at the George Mason University School of Law, and a member and chair of the Federal Trade Commission. He has also served as a Non-Executive Director with the United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority.