The Anticorruption for Development Global Program is convening a new Working Group on Anticorruption in Procurement. The Working Group aims to promote the effective and equitable use of public resources in procurement systems. In its sessions, the group will discuss innovative practices and experience to address key risks such as insider influence, bribery in exchange for favorable treatment, bid-rigging, collusive pricing, conflict of interest and other integrity challenges in procurement. It will involve leaders from government, civil society, and international organizations to exchange knowledge, support relevant experience, and contribute to global knowledge products.
The Working Group was created in response to the critical role that public procurement plays in development outcomes and the substantial risks it faces from corruption. When procurement processes are undermined by corruption, the result is wasted resources, inflated costs, lower quality services, and diminished public trust in government institutions. Anticorruption in procurement is essential not only to safeguard public funds but also to ensure that competition is fair, contracts are awarded transparently, and public services reach the communities that need them most.
The working group is co-chaired by the Open Contracting Partnership and Government Transparency Institute and hosted by the World Bank. Sessions of the working group are held quarterly.
- 1st meeting: On September 18, 2025, the working group discussed progress made in the field to date, as well as remaining challenges, including standardization and integration of data across countries, data extraction, and capacity gaps. Opportunities for cross-learning were identified, including on some countries’ experiences with red flag systems and data use, and the potential of AI and large language models for extracting data from unstructured documents.
- 2nd meeting: On December 10, 2025, the working group discussed experiences with red flag systems in North Macedonia, the UNDP-GTI initiative on Measuring Integrity in Public Procurement, and the recent World Bank Workshop on the Governance Risk Assessment System (GRAS) held in Kenya.
- 3rd meeting: On March 18, 2026, participants from several African countries will discuss procurement integrity efforts in their countries, as will representatives from Guatemala’s procurement body.
For more information about the Anticorruption in Procurement Working Group, please contact Dania del Carmen, ddelcarmen@worldbankgroup.org and Vartika Neeraj, vneeraj@worldbank.org.
