Combatting Corruption and Collusion in UK Public Procurement: Proposals for Post-Brexit Reform

Abstract

Every year the UK government spends billions of pounds purchasing goods, works and services that are vital to growth, development, health and social welfare. Performed well, public procurement helps a government to nurture competition, save money, and provide better public services. These benefits will not be reaped, however, if the system is not protected adequately from distortion by corruption and/or supplier collusion. This paper concludes that additional measures are required to protect the integrity of procurement processes in England and Wales through improving the distinct public procurement, anti‐corruption and competition regimes and uniting them around a cohesive strategy. It advocates policy coordination and enhancements designed to yield major benefits to public procurement as the UK seeks to develop its own policies post‐Brexit and to grapple with the demands that the COVID‐19 pandemic has placed on public purchasing and the public purse.

Keywords: Corruption, Collusion, Public Procurement, Principal-Agent Problem

JEL Classification: K14, K20, K21, L41