The potential of public e-procurement technology to reduce corruption in public procurement (original) (raw)

Public procurement, which accounts for almost 10 to percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in developed countries and almost 20 percent or more of GDP in developing countries, can be a mean for any governments to encourage broader reforms in terms of economic, technological, and social infrastructure improvements. Further, it can be a central instrument to assist in the efficient management of public resources. Corruption has hindered the desired efficiency in procurement process. Corruption in public procurement is an international issue that is recognised by many government institutions and international organisations including the World Bank, United Nations (UN), Asian Development Bank (ADB), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Transparency International (TI). It is a threat to economic and human development in all countries and is believed to be increasing at alarming rates, especially in developing countries. Public procurement processes go through different stages including project planning, product design and documentation, tender process, contract award, and accounting and auditing and each stage has a risk of corruption. Several governments have adopted Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as a tool to enhance transparency and accountability in the procurement process. The public e-procurement technology, one CERTIFICATION OF DISSERTATION I certify that the ideas, research works, results, analyses and conclusions reported in this dissertation are entirely my own effort, except where otherwise acknowledged. I also certify that the work is original and has not been previously submitted for another award, except where otherwise acknowledged.