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Ethical public procurement

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Abstract

The draft European Union Directives on public procurement will not be able to entirely fulfil their objectives of transforming purchasing culture and leading to a more ethical conduct between parties. In this article an account is given of research that has highlighted that public procurement should be grasped not by concentrating on corruption, but, on the contrary, even assuming good intentions. Self-cleaning, probity auditing and the identification of illicit conduct are positive means of prevention. The brute force approach of hard law and penalisation is not the only way. However, the draft directives do not reflect this recognition.

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Notes

  1. We focus on the

    • Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on public procurement 2012.

    • Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors 2012.

    • Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the award of concession contracts 2012.

  2. Willams-Elegbe [5].

  3. Williams-Elegbe [5], 25–27.

  4. The three main parts of the NIGP definition is referred.

  5. Code of Ethics—NIGP http://www.nigp.org/eweb/StartPage.aspx?Site=NIGP&webcode=abt-codeofethics.

  6. Pünder, Priess, Arrowsmith [3].

  7. Arrowsmith, Priess, Friton [1], pp. 4–7.

  8. Shead [4], p. 66.

  9. Beth [2], slide 10.

  10. Directive 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors; and Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts.

  11. Proposal of the new Directive Article 15. “Principles of procurement”—“Contracting authorities shall treat economic operators equally and without discrimination and shall act in a transparent and proportionate manner.”

  12. Article 21. of Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on public procurement.

  13. Article 39. of the Proposal.

  14. Article 39/a. of the Proposal.

  15. Article 22. of the Proposal.

  16. Article 22 of the Proposal 01.2012.

  17. Exclusion grounds.

  18. Article 55. of the Proposal—Exclusion grounds.

References

  1. Arrowsmith, S., Priess, H.-J., Friton, P.: Self-cleaning—an emerging concept in EC public procurement law? In: Pünder, H., Priess, H.J., Arrowsmith, S. (eds.) Self-Cleaning in Public Procurement Law, pp. 1–32. Carl Heymanns Verlag, Schriften der Bucerius Law School, Cologne (2009)

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  2. Beth, E.: Integrity in public procurement: mapping out good practices. Detailed outline of the report OECD Symposium. Paris, 30 November (2006). http://www.oecd.org/governance/fightingcorruptioninthepublicsector/37864282.pdf

  3. Pünder, H., Priess, H.J., Arrowsmith, S. (eds.): Self-Cleaning in Public Procurement Law. Carl Heymanns Verlag, Schriften der Buserius Law School, Cologne (2009)

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  4. Shead, B.: Probity auditing: keeping the bureaucrats honest? Aust. J. Public Adm. 60(2), 66–70 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Williams-Elegbe, S.: Fighting Corruption Public Procurement—A Comparative Analysis of Disqualification of Debarment Measures. Studies in International Law. Hart Publishing, Oxford and Portland (2012)

    Google Scholar 

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of the Institute of Business Economics, Corvinus University of Budapest, District no. 9, Fővám tér 8, 1093, Budapest, Hungary

    Tünde Tátrai

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  1. Tünde Tátrai
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Correspondence to Tünde Tátrai.

Additional information

This article is based on a presentation given at the Annual Conference on European Public Procurement Law, organised by ERA 11–12 October 2012 in Trier.

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Tátrai, T. Ethical public procurement. ERA Forum 14, 59–68 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12027-013-0290-3

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