Michael Flores

Safeguarding Contract Competition: Finding Fraud in Procurement Systems

• July 1, 2004

An entity’s vendor search may be impeded by haste, lack of time, laziness, or entrenched tradition. Regardless, the fraud examiner should inspect the procurement competition system and its internal controls for possible kickbacks and other cozy relationships.Though inadequate competition for procuring vendor contracts is a good potential indicator of fraud, waste, or abuse, many fraud examiners fail to scrutinize the quality of the competition process. However, systematically gauging procurement competition should be a vital part of any fraud examination program.

Written By: Michael Flores

• • Contract and Procurement Fraud