Procurement projects: Basic causes of corruption.
จากไชต์: Office of The National Anti - Corruption Commission (ONACC)
จำนวนผู้เข้าชม: 538
Basic causes of corruption in both public and private sectors may primarily involve procurement projects which have accounted for 30 to 40% of a total state budget totaling 3.18 trillion baht in fiscal 2023. One-third of the total state budget amounting to an estimated one trillion baht is being spent on procurement projects. Of that total, 30 to 40% may have been embezzled in corruption, amounting to a range of 300 billion to 400 billion baht in a year.
One may doubt how the country could possibly move on despite the fact that so much of its budget had been embezzled.
Procedures for procurement projects include the predetermination of specifications under which those procurement projects are implemented, median prices, biddings, signing of contracts, administration of contracts, inspection of the project works and imbursement of funds. Corruption could possibly occur at every step of the procedures.
Although details of a procurement project are usually, transparently announced, some contractors may take for granted that they could not win a bidding for it without paying kickbacks and having access to the predetermined specifications.
In some cases, terms of reference (TOR) may have been set up in favor of certain contractors whilst, in other cases, the bidder who may quote the lowest price may not win the bidding as far as the winning bidder may be considered to have a relatively superior operational technique.
Besides, the inspection of the project works may be flexible to some extent, depending on the consideration of an appointed committee in charge of inspection. The inspectors of the project works may have been awarded ''gifts'' otherwise they would have found faults and errors along the way.
Contractors may have been demanded to make so much alteration or improvement to their project works that they were hardly making a profit whilst the imbursement of funds could have been a very painstaking process.
Thus, some contractors may have had enough of dealing in a public procurement project and finally opted out by not bidding for it despite a huge sum of a contractual fund. Those contractors may not have close connections and consider such projects to be rarely profitable or not worth investing in the first place.
Local administrative organizations' 800 billion baht funds are very likely prone to corruption
Dr. Mana Nimitmongkol, secretary general of the Anti-Corruption Organization of Thailand, has recently raised concerns over Thailand's corruption situation, especially in regard to a total of 7,850 local administrative organizations including (1) 76 provincial administrative organizations, (2) 2,472 municipalities including 30 city municipalities, 195 urban municipalities and 2,247 subdistrict municipalities, (3) 5,300 subdistrict administrative organizations, (4) two autonomous administrative organizations (Bangkok and Pattaya). A combined total of over 800 billion baht in state funding is available for all those administrative bodies to spend in a year.
Dr. Mana remarks that those local administrative organizations are so powerful and influential that they could predetermine which contractors may be awarded their procurement projects and disclosed that one-third of thousands of petitions allegedly pertaining to corruption received by the Office of the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) involves local administrative organizations.
The most common cases allegedly involve the violation of the laws by officials who may have misconducted or neglected their duties, followed by corruption over procurement projects in which legal loopholes may have been unduly taken.
That has remained as the country's basic cause of corruption for a long period of time. The late prime minister Prem Tinsulanonda was appraised for being one of the most honest leaders who had learned to get enough of politics. Then, during the time of the late prime minister Chatichai Choonhavan who replaced Prem from August 4, 1988 until February 23, 1991, corruption which had faded off for about eight years had thrived so much that he virtually asked for any bills of receipt as evidence for it. Finally, Chatichai was deposed in the February 23, 1991 coup by the National Peacekeeping Council headed by the then-supreme commander Sunthorn Kongsompong.
The coup generals cited the corruption by the allegedly unusually rich members of the Chatichai cabinet or the so-called Buffet Cabinet as an excuse for the coup. During that time, the corruption allegedly may have occurred from a kitchen to Government House with a certain woman being called a ''10% Madam.''
The corruption which abundantly occurred 32 years ago resulted in the ouster of a prime minister although the media in those days could have hardly caught anyone evidently corrupt.
Today, the eye of the people could keep track of many cases of corruption inside local administrative organizations.
Anti-corruption networks have become watchdogs such as the NACC and STRONG network whose members may inspect any suspected corruption on the spot in regard to funds specifically provided for various repair and construction projects.
Many corruption cases may have been exposed instead of being kept secret any longer whilst the e-bidding process for public procurement projects could prevent the otherwise suspected corruption.
Thailand has taken efforts to prevent corruption for a long time. For instance, the cabinet resolved on October 5, 2004 to have all contracts for public procurement projects as of January 1, 2005 signed in the e-Government Procurement (e-GP) system of the Ministry of Finance.
Today, the Office for Public Procurement Standards of the Department of Comptroller General is in charge of supervising and administering government hardware procurements and amending the relevant laws and regulations, formulating policies and guidelines for the development of public hardware procurements, formulating standards and criteria for median prices for public construction projects, studying and formulating measures for the prevention of a possible conspiracy over price quotations and trading monopolies as well as observing the relevant cabinet or ministerial resolutions.
Public procurement is a significant process of the budget execution. After an annual budget has passed approval from parliament and become law, varied government agencies may be allocated funds for use on purposes of their respective projects or missions.
Nonetheless, according to remarks made by Pramot Sopitthanapa on hardware procurements under the e-bidding system and corruption, public procurement projects have incurred great amounts of budget each year, not including large-scale projects which may amount more than half the total of government expenditure or even surpass that total in a year.
From 2005 up to now, over 80% of all petitions submitted to the House Committee on Anti-Corruption involved alleged corruption pertaining to procurement projects.
Since the e-bidding system was applied, many public procurement projects have initially incurred less funding than earlier allocated. On the other hand, many petitions have been filed against government agencies which have applied the e-bidding system.
Thus, it remains to be seen how successful the e-bidding system, considered to be the latest apparatus to prevent or reduce corruption in public procurement, could finally be.
On February 3, 2015, the cabinet resolved to apply the Integrity Pact to promote transparency in public procurement. The Integrity Pact features an agreement in writing to be signed by three parties, including a government agency which runs the project, bidding contractors and observers.
The observers may be selected from among members of professional associations, the Anti-Corruption Organization of Thailand and civil networks who are specialized, experienced and qualified in public procurement.
The objectives of the Integrity Pact are to increase the efficiency, cost-effectiveness and transparency in the expenditure of state funds.
The inspection by observers from civil networks into the exposed data on a public procurement project could create the confidence of the private sector in tendering biddings, render a fair competition and maintain optimum interests of the country.
Consequently, Thailand's Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), conducted by Transparency International, could be favorable, foreign investments could be increased and the country's overall economic conditions could improve.
Contractors have been encouraged to manifest their transparency in doing business with procurement projects of many local administrative organizations by participating in the Integrity Pact.
Although large-scale projects have not as yet joined in the Integrity Pact, a sizable amount of a state fund would no longer slip into the pockets of corrupt officials.
Most importantly, the eye of the people is a great power whilst those influential, corrupt persons cannot hide their underhanded dealings for a long time.
-Saenchai Khaoputhai
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