scholarly journals Prototyping a Smart Contract Based Public Procurement to Fight Corruption

Computers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 85
Author(s):  
Tim Weingärtner ◽  
Danielle Batista ◽  
Sandro Köchli ◽  
Gilles Voutat
Keyword(s):  
Information Disclosure ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
The Public ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Smart Contract ◽  
Sample Data ◽  
Procurement Procedure ◽  
Delivery Verification ◽  
Bidding Process

Corruption in public procurement is a worldwide appearance that causes immense financial and reputational damages. Especially in developing countries, corruption is a widespread issue due to secrecy and lack of transparency. An important instrument for transparency and accountability assurance is the record which is managed and controlled by recordkeeping systems. Blockchain technology and more precisely blockchain-based smart contracts are emerging technological tools that can be used as recordkeeping systems and a tool to mitigate some of the fraud involving public procurement records. Immutability, transparency, distribution and automation are some of the features of smart contracts already implemented in several applications to avoid malicious human interference. In this paper, we discuss some of the frauds in public procurement, and we propose smart contracts to automatize different stages of the public procurement procedure attempting to fix their biggest current weaknesses. The processes we have focused on include the bidding process, supplier habilitation and delivery verification. In the three subprocesses, common irregularities include human fallibility, improper information disclosure and hidden agreements which concern not only governments but also civil society. To show the feasibility and usability of our proposal, we have implemented a prototype that demonstrates the process using sample data.

scholarly journals Transforming Public Procurement Contracts Into Smart Contracts

2021 ◽  
pp. 1380-1394
Author(s):  
Pauline Debono
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
Procurement Process ◽  
The Public ◽  
Smart Contract ◽  
Procurement Contracts ◽  
Public Contract

The terms governing the provision of supplies, services, or works by an economic operator to a governmental entity are set into a public contract that is signed, following a procurement process. This article explores whether the public administration can utilise smart contracts to incorporate the terms governing the provision of supplies, services, or works. The fundamental elements of a contract are assessed, in order to determine whether a smart contract can be considered as fulfilling these requirements. Following this assessment, the main hurdles to the use of smart contracting are examined and a possible solution proposed. The case for utilising smart contracting within the realm of public procurement is finally advocated.

scholarly journals Transforming Public Procurement Contracts Into Smart Contracts

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 16-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pauline Debono
Keyword(s):  
Public Administration ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
Procurement Process ◽  
The Public ◽  
Smart Contract ◽  
Procurement Contracts ◽  
Public Contract

The terms governing the provision of supplies, services, or works by an economic operator to a governmental entity are set into a public contract that is signed, following a procurement process. This article explores whether the public administration can utilise smart contracts to incorporate the terms governing the provision of supplies, services, or works. The fundamental elements of a contract are assessed, in order to determine whether a smart contract can be considered as fulfilling these requirements. Following this assessment, the main hurdles to the use of smart contracting are examined and a possible solution proposed. The case for utilising smart contracting within the realm of public procurement is finally advocated.

Know Your Customer (KYC) Implementation with Smart Contracts on a Privacy-Oriented Decentralized Architecture

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 41
Author(s):  
Nikolaos Kapsoulis ◽  
Alexandros Psychas ◽  
Georgios Palaiokrassas ◽  
Achilleas Marinakis ◽  
Antonios Litke ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Privacy Protection ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
Expiration Date ◽  
User Privacy ◽  
Time Efficiency ◽  
Critical Part ◽  
The Public ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Smart Contract ◽  
Decentralized Architecture

Enterprise blockchain solutions attempt to solve the crucial matter of user privacy, albeit that blockchain was initially directed towards full transparency. In the context of Know Your Customer (KYC) standardization, a decentralized schema that enables user privacy protection on enterprise blockchains is proposed with two types of developed smart contracts. Through the public KYC smart contract, a user registers and uploads their KYC information to the exploited IPFS storage, actions interpreted in blockchain transactions on the permissioned blockchain of Alastria Network. Furthermore, through the public KYC smart contract, an admin user approves or rejects the validity and expiration date of the initial user’s KYC documents. Inside the private KYC smart contract, CRUD (Create, read, update and delete) operations for the KYC file repository occur. The presented system introduces effectiveness and time efficiency of operations through its schema simplicity and smart integration of the different technology modules and components. This developed scheme focuses on blockchain technology as the most important and critical part of the architecture and tends to accomplish an optimal schema clarity.

scholarly journals Research on Blockchain-Based E-Bidding System

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 4011
Author(s):  
Dan Wang ◽  
Jindong Zhao ◽  
Chunxiao Mu
Keyword(s):  
Data Transmission ◽  
Privacy Protection ◽  
Graph Isomorphism ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Business Logic ◽  
Core Concept ◽  
The Core ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Smart Contract ◽  
Bidding Process

In the field of modern bidding, electronic bidding leads a new trend of development, convenience and efficiency and other significant advantages effectively promote the reform and innovation of China’s bidding field. Nowadays, most systems require a strong and trusted third party to guarantee the integrity and security of the system. However, with the development of blockchain technology and the rise of privacy protection, researchers has begun to emphasize the core concept of decentralization. This paper introduces a decentralized electronic bidding system based on blockchain and smart contract. The system uses blockchain to replace the traditional database and uses chaincode to process business logic. In data interaction, encryption techniques such as zero-knowledge proof based on graph isomorphism are used to improve privacy protection, which improves the anonymity of participants, the privacy of data transmission, and the traceability and verifiable of data. Compared with other electronic bidding systems, this system is more secure and efficient, and has the nature of anonymous operation, which fully protects the privacy information in the bidding process.

scholarly journals Third Party Certification of Agri-Food Supply Chain Using Smart Contracts and Blockchain Tokens

Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (16) ◽  
pp. 5307
Author(s):  
Ricardo Borges dos Santos ◽  
Nunzio Marco Torrisi ◽  
Rodrigo Palucci Pantoni
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chain ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
Consumer Behaviour ◽  
Economic Incentives ◽  
Third Party ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
Proof Of Concept ◽  
Socially Responsible ◽  
The Public ◽  
Blockchain Technology

Every consumer’s buying decision at the supermarket influences food brands to make first party claims of sustainability and socially responsible farming methods on their agro-product labels. Fine wines are often subject to counterfeit along the supply chain to the consumer. This paper presents a method for efficient unrestricted publicity to third party certification (TPC) of plant agricultural products, starting at harvest, using smart contracts and blockchain tokens. The method is capable of providing economic incentives to the actors along the supply chain. A proof-of-concept using a modified Ethereum IGR token set of smart contracts using the ERC-1155 standard NFTs was deployed on the Rinkeby test net and evaluated. The main findings include (a) allowing immediate access to TPC by the public for any desired authority by using token smart contracts. (b) Food safety can be enhanced through TPC visible to consumers through mobile application and blockchain technology, thus reducing counterfeiting and green washing. (c) The framework is structured and maintained because participants obtain economical incentives thus leveraging it´s practical usage. In summary, this implementation of TPC broadcasting through tokens can improve transparency and sustainable conscientious consumer behaviour, thus enabling a more trustworthy supply chain transparency.

Audit Assessment of the Effectiveness of Public Procurement Procedures

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. s085-s107
Author(s):  
Iryna Drozd ◽  
Mariia Pysmenna ◽  
Nataliia Pohribna ◽  
Nataliya Zdyrko ◽  
Anna Kulish
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Risk Indicator ◽  
Individual Values ◽  
State Budget ◽  
The Public ◽  
Efficiency Cost ◽  
Procurement Procedure ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Risk Parameters

The article seeks describing the benefits and challenges faced by auditors in assessing the effectiveness of public procurement procedures in terms of applying the methodology for calculating efficiency, economy and effectiveness, taking into account the risks of procurement in e-auctions. Quantitative risk parameters are calculated using data of probabilistic indicators of procurement risk assessment according to the ratio of the number of relevant procedures (sub-threshold and above-threshold) to the total number of procurement procedures. Statistical valuation methods are used for the cost risk assessments and calculation of the aggregate risk indicator of public procurement. The calculations are performed using the data of the open e-procurement system ProZorro for all announced procurements in 2018-2019. We analyzed the methods, indicators and the extent to which the study of the public procurement effectiveness via bibliographic and case studies is performed. As a result, the majority of methods cover four components of assessing the public procurement efficiency - targeted efficiency, cost-effectiveness, organizational efficiency, efficiency of budget expenditures for public procurement. This does not provide an assessment of the automated systems’ impact on the procurement procedures results and on possible savings due to the use of certain procurement procedures. To comprehensively assess the procurement efficiency in e-bidding, the authors propose considering four key risks: the risk of cancellation of the procurement procedure, the risk that the procurement procedure will not take place, the risk of appealing the procurement, the risk of disqualification. As a result of risks calculations under the sub-threshold and above-threshold procurement, individual values of risks and their aggregate indicator are determined. This will adjust the scope of audit procedures to verify individual procurements and identify weaknesses in the procurement management system. We believe that the methodology of auditing the procurement effectiveness, taking into account the quantitative and qualitative parameters of procurement risks, will be a useful audit tool to determine the effectiveness of the use of public funds under individual procurements and identify areas of cost-effectiveness for the state budget funds.

A Study of Use Cases for Smart Contracts Using Blockchain Technology

2021 ◽  
pp. 1823-1844
Author(s):  
S R Mani Sekhar ◽  
Siddesh G M ◽  
Swapnil Kalra ◽  
Shaswat Anand
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disaster ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Use Cases ◽  
Use Case ◽  
Smart Contracts ◽  
Digital Identity ◽  
Blockchain Technology ◽  
Smart Contract ◽  
Healthcare Finance ◽  
Natural Disaster Management

Blockchain technology is an emerging and rapidly growing technology in the current world scenario. It is a collection of records connected through cryptography. They play a vital role in smart contracts. Smart contracts are present in blockchains which are self-controlled and trustable. It can be integrated across various domains like healthcare, finance, self-sovereign identity, governance, logistics management and home care, etc. The purpose of this article is to analyze the various use cases of smart contracts in different domains and come up with a model which may be used in the future. Subsequently, a detailed description of a smart contract and blockchain is provided. Next, different case-studies related to five different domains is discussed with the help of use case diagrams. Finally, a solution for natural disaster management has been proposed by integrating smart contract, digital identity, policies and blockchain technologies, which can be used effectively for providing relief to victims during times of natural disaster.

Influence of the Public Procurement Procedure Type on the Duration of Public Procurement

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 361-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mladen Čudanov ◽  
Predrag Jovanović ◽  
Ondrej Jaško
Keyword(s):  
Linear Models ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Indirect Costs ◽  
Process Efficiency ◽  
Procurement Process ◽  
The Public ◽  
Procurement Procedure ◽  
Procedure Type

This study analyses how important is the influence of the procedure type and a number of received bids on the duration of the public procedure process. Efficiency and speed of public procurement process diminish inventory turnaround times, direct and indirect costs of procurement, hastens and improves manageability of core processes in the organizations obliged to the public procurement process. Our study focuses on the quantitative analysis of the influence of the procedural public procurement framework mostly determined by the central government and describes potential other factors of efficiency which can be influenced at the local level. Dataset was obtained from the Public Procurement Office of Serbia, and it included 42,850 cases of public procurement after the correction of missing and “dirty” data. Using statistical methods we have presented two linear models, where the type of procedure and number of received bids account for roughly 23% of the variability in the dependent variable. This paper provides suggestions for improvement of efficiency of public procurement, as well as for data that needs to be tracked to develop more comprehensive, accurate and reliable prediction model of the duration of the public procurement process.

scholarly journals MANAGING PUBLIC PROCUREMENT APPEALS

2019 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 79-85
Author(s):  
Anna SLOBODIANYK ◽  
Nadiya REZNIK
Keyword(s):  
Civil Rights ◽  
Process Analysis ◽  
Public Procurement ◽  
Individual Case ◽  
The Public ◽  
Procurement Contract ◽  
Procurement Procedure ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Right ◽  
Procurement System

Introduction. The main purpose of the public procurement system is determined by the need to ensure efficient use of budget funds in the development of competition, transparency and openness of the procurement process organization. The purpose of the research is to conduct the process analysis of contesting the public procurement procedure by tenderers. Results. The authors argue that evaluating the dispute resolution effectiveness between the complainant and the customer on the basis of the balance of rights, interests, and objectives of the procurement law is, in practice, an extremely difficult issue that must be resolved in each individual case. The specifics of determining the procurement subject by the customer are highlighted in such a way as to preserve the right to choose the product that suits him best and not to buy the cheapest existing product on the market, such as paper according to certain parameters of density and level of linen. But if the customer has already defined in the tender documentation technical and the qualitative characteristics of the procurement subject, he has no right to further deviate from them when selecting the winner. It is proved that the appeal procedure is created specifically to ensure a quick and professional settlement of conflicts between the participant or potential participant of the procurement procedure and the customer regarding the actions of the customer, which violate the right of such participant in the procurement procedure and the conclusion of the contract with the customer. Attention is drawn to the appeal terms of the tender documentation claim being challenged and the possible addition of justification for the need to amend the conditions of the tender documentation with the opportunity to give additional evidence. Conclusions. From the moment of the procurement contract conclusion between the state customer and the successful tenderer, classic private legal relations emerge, and consequently, after the conclusion of the procurement contract for public funds, which is the final stage of the procurement procedures, civil rights and obligations arise between the parties, and consequently civil rights and obligations arise to appeal the procurement procedure. Keywords: public procurement; body of appeal; tender documentation; the subject of the appeal; legislation on public procurement.

scholarly journals MODIFICATION OF PUBLIC CONTRACT: BETWEEN RULE OF FAIR COMPETITION AND FREEDOM OF CONTRACT PRINCIPLE

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-357
Author(s):  
Theodora Pritadianing Saputri
Keyword(s):  
Public Procurement ◽  
Corporate Restructuring ◽  
The Public ◽  
Freedom Of Contract ◽  
Fair Competition ◽  
Procurement Procedure ◽  
The Government ◽  
Public Contract

It is internationally accepted that public procurement procedure and public contract shall be organized in accordance with the fair competition principle and fulfil the requirement of transparency. Public procurement regulations are necessary to secure the efficient use of taxpayer resources by the government in purchasing goods, services and works from the market and to ensure fair competition among the public contract should be protected and that therefore it would be necessary to amend existing regulations which prohibit or restrict this right derived from freedom of contract.  In addition, law makers should also put in place restriction with regard to corporate restructuring which main intention is to circumvent requirements of tender documents.

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