ABSTRACT
Public sector procurement in the UK is governed by European Union competition regulations enacted by Parliament. These regulations require procurement competitions to be open and selection based on criteria such as the most economically advantageous tender that meets the specification. Whereas the main risks of fraud to the public service in pre-qualification and bidding lie around collusion between contractors, the risks in bid selection and clarification lie around corruption and bribery between companies and public sector procurement officials. One key area of risk of internal fraud is from the use of procurement or credit cards issued to individual members of staff. These can take one of several forms, all are prone to abuse unless there are close monitoring and control arrangements in place. Many public sector organisations have these, in central government often referred to as the 'government procurement card', although it was really a matter for each separate government organisation.
