FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION IN TURKISH PUBLIC PROCUREMENT SYSTEM - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION IN TURKISH PUBLIC PROCUREMENT SYSTEM

Mustafa Çağatay Taşyürek Head of International Relations Department Public Procurement Authority

Content

• Introduction
• Turkish Public Procurement System
• Legislative Framework
• Roles of Government, Business and

Civil Society in Fighting Corruption

• Conclusion

Introduction

3

• Public Procurement accounts for a

significant share of gross domestic product of countries (OECD average is 12% of the GDP).

• Therefore, an effective, transparent,

competitive and sound public procurement system is important in terms

• f

effective use

• f

public resources.

• Integrity in public procurement

has crucial role in proper spending of taxpayers money.

Turkish Public Procurement System

• Public procurement in Turkey is regulated by Public Procurement

Law No. 4734 which entered into force on January 1, 2003.

• Public Procurement Law has created a modern procurement system

in line with international instruments on public procurement (EU Procurement Directives, UNCITRAL Model Law on Procurement, World Bank Procurement Guidelines, etc.).

Public Procurement Law

• no. 4734

Turkish Public Procurement System

• Basic Principles of PPL are;

Transparency Competititon Equal Traetment Reliability Confidentiality Public Supervision Fullfillment of Needs Efficient Use of Resources Taxpayers’ Expectations

Legislative Framework on Fight Against Corruption in Public Procurement

6

Public Procurement Law no 4734

• Article 5: Basic principles
• Article 11: Ineligibility (including conflict of interest)
• Article 17: Prohibited acts or conducts
• Article 58: Prohibition from participation in tenders
• Article 59: Penal liability of tenderers
• Article 60: Penal liability of procurement officials

Public Procurement Contracts Law no 4735

• Article 25: Prohibited acts or conducts
• Article 26: Prohibition from participation in tenders
• Article 27: Penal Liability of contractors
• Article 28: Penal liability of procurement officials

Other Related Legislation

• Criminal Code
• Law on Declaration of Assets and Fight Against Bribery and Corruption
• Law on Establishment of Public Officials Ethics Board
• Regulation on Applications Against Procurement Proceedings
• Regulation on Ethical Code for Public Officials and Procedures and Principles on Applications
• …

Prohibited acts or conducts

7

• to conduct or attempt to conduct procurement fraud by means of fraudulent acts, promises,

threats, unlawful influence, undue interest, agreement, malversation, bribery or other actions,

• to prevent participation, to cause confusion among tenderers, to offer or to encourage bid-

rigging, to conduct actions which may affect competition or tender decision,

• to forge documents or securities, to use forged documents or securities or to attempt those.
• to submit more than one tender by a tenderer on his own account or on behalf of others,

directly or indirectly, as the principal person or as representative of others, unless submitting alternative tenders is allowed.

• to participate in procurement proceedings although ineligible pursuant to Article 11.

Article 17 of the PPL

Liability of Public Officers

8

Article 60 of the PPL Where it is established that procurement officers, members of the tender commissions and other related persons assigned at any stage of the procurement proceedings have committed acts specified in Article 17 or have failed to fulfil their duties impartially or in accordance with the legal requirements or have been involved in culpable or negligent acts which cause damage on one of the parties ; they shall be subject to disciplinary punishment,

• depending on the nature of their acts or conducts, they shall be

prosecuted,

• in addition to the punishment ordered by the court, they shall

compensate for damage inflicted upon the parties,

• If they are found guilty, they shall not be assigned to any duty within

the scope of the PPL.

Liability of Economic Operators

9

Prohibition from participation in public procurement covers,

• All shareholders of the prohibited company if it is an unlimited company
• Majority shareholder of prohibited company if it is a corporation
• Unlimited companies whose one of shareholders is prohibited
• Corporations whose majority shareholder is prohibited

Those who are involved in prohibited acts specified in Article 17;

Article 58 of PPL

• shall be prohibited from participating in public procurement for at least one year

and up to two years

Those who are involved in prohibited acts specified in Article 17 which also constitutes a criminal offence;

Article 59 of PPL

• shall be reported to public prosecutors,
• cannot participate in the procurements until the end of judicial proceedings.
• if they are found guilty, they shall be further prohibited from from participation in

the procurement proceedings up to 3 years in addition to the principal punishment given by the court.

Role of Goverment in Fighting Corruption Public Procurement Authority

10

• Public

Procurement Authority (PPA), which was established in 2002, is a regulatory and supervisory body in public procurement area.

• PPA has administrative and financial

autonomy.

• It is independent in fulfillment of its
• duties. Nobody can issue orders or

instructions for the purpose

• f

influencing the decisions

• f

the Authority.

• PPA is assigned and authorized for the accurate

implementation of the principles, procedures and acts specified in the Public Procurement Law.

www.kik.gov.tr

Public Procurement Authority

Main Duties of the PPA

Secondary legislation Review & Remedies Training E-Procurement

Gathering Information, compling statististics and keeping blacklist

International Relations

• The PPA has duty to review complaints submitted by tenderers, potential

tenderers and candidates claiming that the proceedings carried out by the contacting authorities are in violation of the Law and the related legislation.

Fight Against Corruption in Public Procurement

12

Other Key Government Bodies for Fight Against Corruption in Public Procurement

External:

• The Court of Accounts
• Public Officials Ethics Board
• Ombudsman
• Courts and Prosecutors
• Parliament

Internal to Contracting Authority:

• Internal auditors
• Inspection boards

Role of Business and Civil Society

13

Public procurement involves contracting authorities, suppliers and end users. Therefore integrity is not a requirement for public

• fficials alone.

It is important that business, government and NGOs work together to prevent corruption in public procurement. Integrity in public procurement can be promoted through involving stakeholders, such as business

• rganisations,

civil society, media and the general public, in public procurement and ensuring continuous dialogue with them.

Role of Business and Civil Society

14

Transparency in procurement is necessary to fight corruption because monitoring by stakeholders helps to reveal and prevent corruption

• General public must have access to information in a timely manner and information must be

comprehensive enough to monitor public procurement effectively. In addition, NGOs and public should be able to raise concerns about procurement proceedings.

• Sound whistleblowing mechanisms facilitates reporting of corruption and helps to reduce

corruption risk. Internal measures taken by business helps to prevent corruption. Some suppliers have their own integrity systems to conduct business in a fair, ethical and legal manner

• Such integrity systems typically include measures such as code of business conduct, internal

and external audits, accounting measures and integrity trainings.

Integrity in Public Procurement

15

> Main Tools to Provide Transparency and Stakeholder Participation in Turkish Public Procurement System;

• Electronic Public Procurement Platform
• Complaints and other submissions in writing or in electronic form
• Right to Information Act and BİMER (which is e-submission system in Prime

Ministry’s website)

• Meetings and workshops with stakeholders
• Press Meetings
• Forum on PPA’s website where people can express their opinions, criticisms or

recommandations

E-Procurement

16

History

• 2004 Receiving Contract Notices by e-mail
• 2005 Public Procurement Platform was established
• 2008 Articles related to EPPP was added to the Public Procurement Law
• 2009 The studies and facilities to establish EPPP has started
• 2010 EPPP (Electronic Public Procurement Platform) became operational.

Main Main Achievements

• Publication of electronic contract notice and contract award notice,
• Preparation and publication of tender document and downloading it,
• Conducting or registering procurement transactions on EPPP (e.g. drafting tender evaluation

records)

• Black list confirmation, Tender Search, Tender Status, Data Collection and Storage,
• Electronic inquiry of information such as tax liabilities, balance sheets, income statements, social

security premium debts of tenderers.

• Electronic notification to economic operators
• Electronic submission of bids in some public contracts

Target

• Make electronic submission of bids more common

The Electronic Public Procurement Platform (EKAP) was put into use on 1 September 2010 in order to make procurement process easier and increase competition and transpareny .

E-Procurement Platform and Transparency

17

Any person have access to information such as contract notices, contract award notices, tender document, dispute resolutions, debarred suppliers on EKAP website without any registration or password. They can search for tenders in conformity with the criteria they choose and can reach detailed information about tenders, such as successful bidder, lowest and highest bids, number of bidders, contract value, estimated price, date of contract, duration of contract, etc.

Transparency (cont..)

18

>Tracking Information on Public Spending;

• In addition to running EPPP, PPA publishes procurement statistics semi-

annually.

• These

statistical reports are accessible

• n

the website

• f

PPA. (ww.kik.gov.tr)

• Statistics include information about;
• Categorization of tenders by procurement procedures, contracting

authority, regions, types, nationality of contractor, threshold values, financing sources, completion years.

• Contract and contract award notices
• Appeal Applications to the Public Procurement Authority,
• Decisions of public procurement board,
• Prohibition decisions and blacklist.
• ….

Right to Information

19

> Applications to PPA under the Right to Information Act and live statistics; Year Number of Applications 2012 3.359 2013 2.742 2014 2.112 2015 2.028 2016 1.764 Total 12.005

Procurement Trainings

20

Public procurement is a complex area, therefore capacities of business and civil society should be improved by government to enable them understand and effectively monitor public procurement. One of the duties of the Public Procurement Authority is to provide training on public procurement.

Trainings for CAs and Supliers Trainings for CAs and Supliers

• Trainings in coordination with academic institutions
• Trainings organized by the PPA
• Trainings based on request of stakeholders

Years Number of People Participated to Trainings Organised By the PPA 2016 7.924 2015 8.563 2014 7.602 2013 5.847 2012 7.284 Total 37.220

Conclusion and Recommendations (Experiences)

• Involving large number of stakeholders is necessary to fight

corruption.

• Government should encourage business and civil society to

monitor and report corrupt practises through ensuring transparency and providing open channels of communication.

• Reducing

corruption risk builds public trust in public procurement and thereby increases competition and savings.

THANKS