Summer 2021 Course Schedule

Public Procurement Corruption Risk & Mitigation: World bank Practice (LAW-864-001)
Nancy Boswell, Eugenia Pyntikova

Meets: 01:30 PM - 04:30 PM ( MTuWTh)

Enrolled: 3 / Limit: 22

Administrator Access


Notices

All summer 2021 classes will be taught online. Classes may have a combination of live sessions and asynchronous materials/assignments. The block of time listed here will be the maximum amount of live session meeting time expected of you and may decrease.

Description

Governments, typically, spend from 15 to 30% of their gross domestic product on procurement of essential public services, such as health care, clean water, education, infrastructure and security. Corruption is estimated to add 10% - 25% or more to the cost of government contracts, wasting public resources, diverting assistance from those who need it most and distorting competition among potential bidders. Government contracts related to Covid-19 pandemic relief are surging, putting trillions in public funds at risk. To meet the urgent demand, customary procurement procedures and oversight mechanisms have been loosened or evaded. As a result, projects have been expedited, but they have also too frequently been subject to fraud, bribery, favoritism and other forms of corruption, leading to problems such as substandard and overpriced medical equipment and delayed or inadequate deliveries of PPE, ventilators and vaccines – costing lives. Procurement of goods and selection of services in the public sector is financed by public funds – either through the state’s own tax revenues / budget or via development financing whereby an international organization (such as the World Bank Group) issues a loan or grant to finance a certain project.

This course will focus on the public contracting process, its vulnerability to corruption and how the World Bank and governments – often acting in partnership - are evolving their approaches to procurement systems, rules and practices to mitigate corruption risk, detect and investigate corruption and strengthen penalties and sanctions. Designed for procurement officers, contractors and civil society conducting oversight, participants will also explore corruption red-flag identification techniques, use of big data, compliance best practices and requirements and challenges for counsel representing private industry participating in public procurement.

Textbooks and Other Materials

The textbook information on this page was provided by the instructor. Students should use this information when considering purchases from the AU Campus Store or other vendors. Students may check to determine if books are currently available for purchase online.

Course materials are varied, drawing on laws, regulations, cases, policy papers, and other widely consulted reference materials. Required readings for each class are listed below.

While there may be numerous documents listed, please note that, frequently, only an identified excerpt is to be read.

All readings are either available online or are posted to the class website. Where links are problematic, please search using the document title. Please contact the professor promptly should you encounter difficulty in accessing documents.

Reading assignments may be modified, so please check the website frequently.

First Class Readings

Required Reading:

  1. The World Bank Procurement Framework: the role of public procurement in preventing corruption, Enzo de Laurentiis (May 23, 2017) https://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/477681495278551298/Enzo-De-Laurentiis-13th-PRIMO-Forum.pdf.

  2. World Bank Guidelines on Preventing and Combating Fraud and Corruption in Projects Financed by IBRD Loans and IDA Credits and Grants (July 1, 2016) https://policies.worldbank.org/en/policies/all/ppfdetail/4039.

  3. World Bank Guidelines on Preventing and Combating Fraud and Corruption in Program-For-Results Financing, https://policies.worldbank.org/en/policies/all/ppfdetail/3682.

  4. Warning Signs if Fraud and Corruption in Procurement (World Bank Group), https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/223241573576857116/pdf/Warning-Signs-of-Fraud-and-Corruption-in-Procurement.pdf.

  5. World Bank Group – Fraud and Corruption Awareness Handbook, http://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/100851468321288111/pdf/575040WP0Box351Corruption1Awareness.pdf.

Suggested Reading:

Syllabus

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