Effective Corruption Control: Supplier Remedies in Public Procurement in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania – a Comparative Analysis of Mechanisms and Their Implementation

This book presents the results of a three-year research project based at the Ruhr-University Bochum, financed by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, Cologne. Corruption in public procurement is widespread and particularly damaging to development objectives, as it undermines any state’s duty to maximize the social and economic welfare of its citizens. Yet, research on country-specific regulation meant to address this problem has remained scarce. This book aims to fill this gap by providing a systematic comparative analysis of supplier remedies mechanisms in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. It elaborates on the potential of legal remedies to serve as anticorruption tools. Based on the fact that the anti-corruption effect of remedies mechanisms depends ultimately on the actual use by suppliers, three main factors are discussed: (1) the institutional setting and independence of the remedies systems; (2) their accessibility for aggrieved bidders; and (3) their efficiency, driven by bidder’s cost-benefit analysis and including the aspects of procedural fees, duration, available relief and prospects of success. The assessment of the legislation is complemented by information gained from various stakeholders such as public procurement authorities, development organizations, NGOs and scientific experts. Despite many similarities of the systems due to their common historical background, the analysis identifies remarkably different regulative and institutional approaches, and discusses their more or less supportive effects on the use of supplier remedies mechanisms.