Benchmarking Public Procurement 2016: Assessing Public Procurement Systems in 77 Economies by The World Bank

Author:The World Bank
Language: eng
Format: epub

Availability of complaint and reporting mechanisms

In busy downtown Amman, Jordan, it is almost impossible to find a public phone that works. To address this problem, the Greater Municipality of Amman decided to purchase a large number of mobile charging stations and advertised a call for tenders. One supplier, which had supplied mobile charging stations in other countries in the region, prepared its bid. A clarification meeting was held with the procuring agency and the potential bidders, during which the legal representative of the supplier noticed that one of the members of the evaluation committee, Mr. Kamal, is the brother-in-law of the principal shareholder of a competing company.

The supplier believed that if Mr. Kamal were to remain a member of the evaluation committee, there would be a conflict of interest. It decided to file a complaint to report the conflict. While preparing the submission of its challenge, several questions came to mind. Where can it find information on mechanisms dealing with complaints? Is such information freely accessible? Does the law mandate that Mr. Kamal disclose the conflict of interest and recuse himself from the process?

Having all documents and procedures available on a government-supported website reduces transaction costs. To enhance transparency, parties should know what to include in their complaint and where to submit it. With different options available, a company can decide where to submit its challenge for a more efficient review, with decisions rendered at a lower cost and at a faster pace.

Suppliers may doubt the integrity of procurements if they believe that procurement officials have a conflict of interest. Procurement officials should also be able to report cases of misconduct, such as fraud or corruption.

Availability of complaint and reporting mechanisms assesses whether potential suppliers have sufficient means to raise a problem to a relevant review body (figure 3.1). It also measures whether they have access to sufficient information to evaluate the opportunity to file a complaint. And it evaluates whether they can choose the forum that will decide on its complaint. It also assesses whether suppliers have the means to disclose situations where they believe procurement officials cannot make an unbiased decision — and, if so, the safeguards available.

Figure 3.1 Availability of complaint and reporting mechanisms

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