Ways to avoid corruption, abuse of power in open tender procurement

SHAH ALAM - Several suggestions can be implemented to avoid the opportunities for corruption and abuse of power by parties involved in a government open tender procurement.

The suggestions were to ensure each bid form was not opened by any officials until the day the bid was closed and to avoid technical committees that were not skilled in that aspect by hiring external consultants.

The parties involved needed to ensure that the pricing committee would conduct price reviews as well as to prepare clear standard operating procedures (SOP) for matters that involved Request For Proposal (RFP) and direct negotiations with suppliers to avoid it being misused by institutions.

Islamic Finance Expert Dr Zaharuddin Abd Rahman, also the Elzar Group & Myclazz.com founder said the open tender was better to curb the opportunities for abuse of power.

However, it was not guaranteed that leaks and corruption would not occur.

"The government should ensure the contents of the bidding form could not be changed after it was submitted. This required a strict control and SOP.

"If it fails, the possibility that information would be leaked and there may be a committee member who would contact the bidder and leak other bidding prices to ensure the bidder they are working with or receiving commissions from had a better opportunity to win," he said in a statement on Thursday.

He said there were a few exception clauses for an open tender usually for cases with unique skills, emergency and urgency.

"The problems (corruption) could still exist here because direct negotiations or RFP is allowed.

"If it involves RFP and direct negotiations with suppliers due to unique skills or urgency, a clear SOP must be prepared to avoid it being misused by an institution.

"The SOP with several layers of reviews is good however, it could slow down the process, thus an efficient and quality review method must be implemented with the help of external experts again," he said.