Integrity in Public Procurement

In public procurement, the principle of integrity is two-fold. There is the integrity of the procurement process, and also the integrity of public procurement practitioners (the principal guardians of the process).

Integrity translates to reliability. Bidders and all other stakeholders need to have assurance that they can rely on any information disseminated by the procurement entity, formally or informally. The integrity of the procurement process assures confidence in the public procurement process. When solicitation documents are issued by the procurement entity, the information provided should be reliable and free of uncertainty or predisposition.

When reviewing solicitation documents, prospective bidders should be able to determine their interest and qualifications for the assignment. They also must be in a position to assess the need for association with other bidders, and the type of association that they would be willing to engage in given their qualifications and the requirements of the assignment in question https://cheska-lekarna.com.

Bidders should also have a clear understanding of the requirement, and know how they will be evaluated. So the evaluation and selection criteria should be clearly expressed in the solicitation document. These criteria should remain unchanged, unless there is a need to modify them. If modification is required, the solicitation document should be amended (by addendum), published and made available to all prospective bidders. Any changes in the bid/proposal submission date, should allow bidders sufficient time to adjust their bids/proposals accordingly to meet the new deadline for submission of bids/proposals.

Integrity of Public Procurement Practitioners
Practitioners working for the various procurement entities, and other government officials involved in the public procurement process, must strive for internal (personal) and external integrity (ideally there shouldn’t be any contradiction between the two). Public procurement practitioners should be perceived, at all times, as honest, trustworthy, responsible and reliable. They must always have the “big picture” (purpose of the procurement requirement) in mind and their philosophy must be that of public servants, in the true sense of the word. Public procurement practitioners must ensure that they responsibly manage the public procurement process within the mandate of the public procurement legal framework and in line with public procurement principles.