Compliance and self-cleaning in public procurement

A European approach

Abstract

Public procurement is one of the main sources of corruption in the area of public administration. Many measures have been adopted in recent years to combat these illicit practices. In the Anglo-Saxon area, preventive techniques have been developed, such as the “Compliance” programs and the self-cleaning commitments, in order to integrate into the enterprises´s behavior a culture of strict respect for the public ethics anual the current legislation.

These techniques, which have already been introduced in addition to the United Kingdom in other European countries such as Germany and Austria, have been partially incorporated in the European Union law by the 2014 Public Procurement Directives package, especially in the number 24. Article 57, paragraph 6, allow an enterprise to rectify a tenderer who regrets his conduct and firmly promises, through reliable evidence, that he has taken adequate measures to be considered reliable by the tenderer Contracting authority. Recently they have also been introduced in Brazil through Provisional Law number 703 of 2015.

With these techniques the companies on their own initiative, in a self-regulating way, adopt rules and assume compliance commitments in relation to the rules on public procurement that can curb from their origin possible corrupt practices. On the other hand, promoting an entrepreneurial culture of compliance with these regulations from the Administration fits perfectly with the principle of good administration.