UK Remedies and Anti-corruption Measures Jonathan Denison Cross Office of Government Commerce PUBLIC PROCUREMENT CONFERENCE BRNO: 28 November 2007

Slide number 2 2 Policy and Standards Purpose: To lead on procurement developments both in the EU and internationally and to ensure that this influences, and is influenced by, the domestic procurement policy and best practice agenda Activities  Continuation of negotiations within the EU and internationally on developments in procurement policy  Co-ordination of infractions work  Creation of an informal OGC supplier feedback service for all suppliers/providers to the public sector  Provision of advice and guidance on EU/WTO/OECD issues Office of Government Commerce (OGC)

Slide number 3 3 What Remedial Systems Are In Place  EU Directive, recently agreed, currently being implemented across Member States  WTO Dispute Settlement; currently being renegotiated  Public Procurement Network (PPN); informal problem solving (SOLVIT)  UK/OGC informal complaints procedure

Slide number 4 4 What Assists in Reducing Need for Remedial Action  Accountability and Control Mechanism  Training (CIPS) ↓  Action of public procurers can affect competition ↓  Suspicious bidding patterns ↓  Tackling corruption  Identification of causes (briber/bribee)  Specific measures to counter (Article 45: UK anti-money laundering

Slide number 5 5 Accountability & Control Mechanisms National Audit Office (NAO)  scrutinises public spending on behalf of Parliament  totally independent of Government  audits accounts of all central government departments/agencies and wide range of other public bodies  reports to Parliament (Public Accounts Commission) on economy, efficiency and effectiveness on their use of public money (saves taxpayers £millions every year)

Slide number 6 6 Accountability & Control Mechanisms Audit Commission  Independent public body; ensures local government spends public money economically,efficiently and effectively e.g. housing,health,criminal justice and fire/rescue services Complaints about corruption are reported to appropriate auditor for local authority  Has a confidential whistle blowing hotline

Slide number 7 7 Where actions of Public Procurers can affect Competition  Making sure you have enough credible suppliers  Capitalising on European Union (EU) procurement arrangements  Aggregating contracts  Working strategically with other public sector procurers  Defining your requirements clearly  Choosing your selection criteria  Incentivising, measuring and rewarding good performance  Managing the supply chain  Mitigating the risks of anti-competitive behaviour

Slide number 8 8 Suspicious bidding patterns – things to look out for 1. Bids received at the same time or containing similar or unusual wording 2. Identical prices 3. Bids containing less detail than expected 4. The likely bidder failing to submit a bid 5. Bids that drop on the entry of a new or frequent bidder 6. The successful bidder later subcontracting work to a supplier that submitted a higher bid 7. Expected discounts suddenly vanishing or other last minute changes 8. Suspiciously high bids without logical cost differences (e.g delivery distances) 9. A bidder betraying discussions with others or with knowledge of previous bids

Slide number 9 9 EC Directives (Article 45) Mandatory exclusion of supplies,contractors and service providers convicted of specific offences  New regulation  Application in the UK Time period(unspent/spent) Competent authorities (CRB/Disclosure Scotland) OGC website guidance

Slide number UK Anti-Money Laundering  Government Publishes money laundering regulations 25 th July pdf  UK current president of the Financial Action Task Force (key international standard setter for anti-money laundering/counter terrorist financing) with objectives: establish enhanced mechanisms to support surveillance and action against global vulnerabilities risk based approach to global implementation of standards, including enhanced support for lower capacity countries closer engagement with private sector and international bodies