Corruption in public procurement: operability, typing, perception, costs and benefits

Abstract

In recent years, the germ of corruption has expanded throughout all public sector scenarios. This universal behavior has come to be practiced from the simplest acts, to the most complex at the head of the State. Public procurement is extremely attractive to commit corrupt acts, this, product of the high amounts of money allocated for it, the facilities to acquire it and the high probability that these behaviors remain unpunished; The indication of what is indicated is the high perception of corruption in Colombia and Spain. This research aims to show, from an analytical perspective, the way in which the phenomenon of corruption in public procurement operates, taking as reference the previously described countries.

To this end, an analysis was made of how corruption operates in public procurement and in which position are the countries under investigation worldwide. In this analysis, very high rates of perception of corruption were found, corruption risk in most public entities and distrust on the part of the governed; likewise, the way in which the legal good "public administration" of this type of criminal behavior is protected in each of the legal systems was investigated. In order to determine that there is no positive relationship between the imposition of the criminal sanction and the prevention of crime, the costs and benefits of the commission of the punishable conduct were taken into consideration. What accounts for the non-fulfillment of the preventive function of punishment.