e‑Procurement: A Tool to Mitigate Public Procurement Fraud in Malaysia?

Abstract

Abstract: The major aim of this paper is to explore and analyse the views of Malaysian public officials on how e‑Procurement helps mitigate procurement fraud. While it is fully legitimate for private enterprises to bid for public works, in many cases there is inappropriate granting of public money to non‑qualifying private business in a fraudulent manner. The visibility of fraud losses in the public sector has undermined the delivery of public services. Decrease of fraud incidents can improve the countryâ s growth in terms of infrastructure, by providing facilities to improve healthcare and education, to combat poverty, and to fund security and defence. This paper analyses the implementation of E‑Government in Malaysia, which has transformed the public service into a dynamic and diverse environment for government activities. Electronic Procurement (e‑Procurement) can be used as a tool to mitigate fraudulent activities in public organisations by ensuring accountability, transparency and the achievement of best value for money contracts. In this qualitative study, a political economy approach was used to investigate the social phenomenon. Documentary analysis and semi‑structured interviews via the Snowball Sampling Method (SSM) were conducted for investigating public procurement fraud in Malaysia. The personal views of 13 procurement officers from various Malaysian government agencies were examined. Their perspectives, views and individual experiences shed light on how e‑Procurement helps to alleviate public procurement fraud in Malaysia. The findings showed that that e‑Procurement can (1) dispute political and economic forces in government purchasing processes, (2) manage demands and interference when rewarding government contracts, and (3) be used efficiently at the nexus of government and businesses. Thus, this study has a number of practical implementations and contributions based on the experience and views on e‑Procurement by Malaysian public officials. It can also facilitate policy makers, enforcement agencies and researchers in understanding