{"id":4280,"date":"2018-01-31T07:30:06","date_gmt":"2018-01-31T12:30:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/projectcalls.com\/?p=4280"},"modified":"2018-01-30T21:01:50","modified_gmt":"2018-01-31T02:01:50","slug":"conflict-of-interest-what-it-is-and-how-to-avoid-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projectcalls.com\/dev\/conflict-of-interest-what-it-is-and-how-to-avoid-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Conflict of interest: what it is and how to avoid it"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you have been keeping a regular eye on Caribbean procurement-related news, you would have observed a recurring theme: conflict of interest, or the appearance of conflict of interest. Although the situations vary, essentially, the allegation is that contracts have been awarded to individuals in circumstances where there seemed to be bias, or where there was a close relationship or affiliation with procuring organisation, the tender evaluators, or even with the political directorate, which may have influenced the procurement process, and the tender award.<\/p>\n

Allegations of conflict of interest is usually levelled at decision-makers., as reflected in a typical definition for such a matter:<\/p>\n

A conflict of interest occurs when a corporation or person becomes unreliable because of a clash between personal and professional affairs. Such a conflict occurs when a company or individual has a\u00a0vested interest, such as money, status, knowledge or reputation, which puts into question whether they can be unbiased in their decision-making.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

(Source:\u00a0 Investopedia<\/a>)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Although in and of itself conflict of interest is not illegal \u2013 but it is behaviour that most countries would like eliminated \u2013 when it does happen, it undermines fairness and transparency, which is becoming increasingly important in both the public and private sectors. Further, and in many instances, the performance of contracts issued under those circumstances is not as closely monitored; thus essentially wasting taxpayers\u2019 (or shareholders\u2019) money, and resulting in poorly executed, or no, project outputs.<\/p>\n

Avoiding conflict of interest<\/h3>\n

In many countries, safeguards addressing conflict of interest have been established. Further, donor agencies, such as the World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank, and Caribbean Development Bank, to name a few, address the issue in their rules and guidelines. Frequently, depending on the project, it is a matter that is specifically raised in the tender notice or invitation, where individuals interested in responding to the invitation are referred to the relevant sections of the organisation\u2019s procurement guidelines to ensure that there is no conflict of interest.<\/p>\n

It is emphasised that many procurement guidelines speak to conflict of interest by bidders. In other words, they put the onus is on the bidder to ensure a conflict of interest does not exist. Some of the situations that could be considered a conflict of interest and result in disqualification from the tender process include, but are not limited to the following in summary:<\/p>\n