An overview of European good practices in public procurement

Public procurement has always been a major source of corruption in Europe, as acknowledged by national and European officials, by NGOs and by representatives of civil society. Too often, public procurement serves the personal interests of corrupt officials rather than the best interest of the community. During the last decade, anti-corruption efforts have increasingly focused on public procurement corruption. Most European countries, including European Union members, have tried to eliminate public procurement corruption by implementing new legal rules to ensure compliance with public procurement standards and by prosecuting offenders. After surveying a variety of good practices for eliminating corruption in public procurement in Europe, this paper concludes that the new rules have produced mixed results, with the most unfavourable outcomes occurring in Central and Eastern European countries where public procurement corruption is more virulent than elsewhere in Europe.