Employee ’pressure’ In Tendering Fraud

Employee ’pressure’ factors

High staff turnover and/or staff shortages, resulting in checks not being carried out or being carried out inadequately.

Lack of supervision.

Lack of training, so staff are not aware of where their jobs fit in the broader picture, and they are not aware of possible areas where fraud might occur.

Staff not trained in the use of relevant policies and procedures, and the importance of complying with them.

Poor staff morale resulting in retaliatory fraud e.g. where staff bear a grudge. As they feel their commitment to the department has not been recognized.

High risk Areas

Major risk areas for government agencies are as follows:

The tendering and award of contracts.

The settlement of contractor’s final accounts and claims.

The appointment and reward of external consultants.

Decisions regarding the outside interests of officers and members.

Canvassing for staff appointment.

The acceptance of hospitality.

Pressure exerted by contractors on officers having purchasing responsibilities.

Major reasons of tendering frauds

A major reason why people commit procurement fraud is because they are allowed to do so. There area wide range of threats facing government agencies the threat of fraud can come from inside or outside the department, but the likelihood that a fraud will be committed will be greatly decreased if the potential fraudster believes that the rewards will be modest, that they will be detected or that the potential punishment will be unacceptably high. The main way of achieving this must to be establish a comprehensive system of control which increases the likelihood of detection and increase the cost to the fraudster.

It has been said that there are three requirements which need to be met to reduce the risk of procurement fraud; Good Ethics, Good People, Good System.