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Public procurement is prone to corruption, which in the global construction market alone accounts for an estimated US$340 billion per year. There is a growing need for procurement systems to be able to fight corruption and improve the effectiveness, efficiency, fairness and transparency of public procurement. A comprehensive list of irregularities in public procurement is derived from irregularities observed during technical vigilance inspections by experts and reported cases. The research involved a questionnaire survey, Delphi method and an empirical investigation of the dynamics of irregular practices in public procurement. The survey revealed the top 15 most frequent irregularities. The irregularities have been classified under five categories: transparency, professional standards, fairness, contract monitoring and regulation and procedural irregularities. The ranking of these categories reveals that transparency is the key factor requiring prime attention. The other categories are of nearly equal importance. A framework for good procurement is developed and actions proposed under five categories to curb corruption in public procurement. The framework and the irregularities can be related systematically to various aspects of combating corruption, and hence should fulfil the urgent need of policy-makers, professional staff, regulators and consumers.Corruption, India, irregularities, public sector procurement,

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Despite extensive efforts, corruption in public procurement has reached epidemic proportions and has become one of the major challenges for management. Because corrupt practices mostly occur under wraps, the task of combating corruption becomes even more difficult. In the course of a review of the extant literature on the theme a number of independent constructs with the potential to develop anti-corruption strategies have been identified. A research model was developed on the basis of the hypothesis that anticorruption strategies lead to corruption free performance in public construction projects. A questionnaire survey was administered and 105 responses were collected. 'Anti-corruption strategies' was defined as a second order construct composed of four latent constructs: leadership, rules and regulations, training and fear of punishment. The structural equation modelling (SEM) technique was used to test the hypothesized positive inter-relations between anti-corruption strategies and corruption free performance. The significance of the role of management leadership, rules and regulations, training, as well as fear of punishment is highlighted to help policy makers and construction institutions in understanding the role of various anti-corruption strategies in public construction projects so that they may contribute to this important endeavour in achieving the goal of promoting economy, efficiency, quality, fairness and transparency.

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