Procurement and Contract Fraud is usually off -the books- and difficult to detect and investigate

[Adam Fleming]

In this interconnected, interdependent global world, the need for contracting procurement of any goods or services is strong and indispensable. However, the benefits of this feature notwithstanding, there are several loopholes in the procurement and contracting activity. Outsourcing and contracting, by their very nature, are vulnerable to fraud. Fraud can happen at any stage of the procurement and contract process.

Common sources of procurement and contract frauds

A very common reason for procurement and contract frauds is when vendors and contractors collude with employees that are in charge of purchasing and administrating contracts. Another source of these procurement and contract frauds is the employee on whose request goods or services are purchased. Yet other procurement and contract frauds happen when solicited contractors work hand in glove with the bidding contractors. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE) estimates that as much as five percent of a business’ revenue is lost to procurement and contract frauds.

Since most of these procurement and contract frauds are based on off-the-books records, they go unnoticed for a good part, despite the fact that governments the world over have deployed scores of auditors and investigators with complete oversight of detecting and controlling procurement and contract frauds.

Plugging the loopholes

The many gaps in the contacting and procuring process need to be plugged if procurement and contract frauds have to be prevented. In addition, once these procurement and contract frauds happen, there need to be a few mechanisms to ensure that the procurement and contract frauds investigation is done thoroughly. Only this ensures that procurement and contract frauds do not go on to cause the kind of damage they normally do.

The first step to detecting, preventing and getting procurement and contract frauds right is to gain an understanding of the nature of the fraud. This understanding is the basis to gaining insights on how to deal with procurement and contract frauds. Many small and medium scale businesses suffer from procurement and contract frauds because are ill-equipped to deal with procurement and contract frauds, lacking as they do the knowledge needed to understand the nature of this activity.

A valuable learning session on procurement and contract frauds

A webinar from Compliance4All, a leading provider of professional trainings for all the areas of regulatory compliance, will impart lessons on how to understand deal with procurement and contract frauds. John E. Grimes III, who has over 45 years of law enforcement, criminal investigation, loss prevention, fraud examination experience, and teaching, will be the speaker at this session. In order to gain knowledge of the way in which the system of procurement and contract works and to understand how to prevent frauds, please register for this webinar by logging on to http://www.compliance4all.com/control/w_product/~product_id=501272L... Since the foundation to detecting and preventing procurement and contract frauds is a proper understanding of the various procurement and contract fraud hazards and schemes that are responsible for these frauds; John will start with giving offering knowledge of this aspect. He will explain which steps in the procurement chain procurement and contract frauds are most likely to occur.

Best practices for dealing with procurement and contract frauds

John will offer an understanding and awareness of the procurement fraud hazards that businesses or organizations that purchase materials are vulnerable to. He will also equip them with strategies that are aimed at detecting and preventing procurement and contract frauds, which will prevent them from sustaining huge losses. Also offered at this learning session is a set of proven best practices in investigative strategies that helps look into allegations of procurement and contract frauds.

At this highly valuable learning session on procurement and contract frauds, John will cover the following areas:

• Basic Steps in the Procurement Process
• Procurement Policies and Procedures
• Conflict of Interest Policy
• The various Procurement and Contract Fraud Hazards and what step in the procurement chain they occur.
• Fraud Hazards in the Requirement Step
• Conflict of Interest
• Bribery, Kickbacks
• Fraud Hazards in the Section Step
• Bid Manipulation
• Sole Source Awards
• Fraud Hazards in the Post Award Step
• Change Order Fraud
• Phantom Employees and Equipment
• Failure to meet Contract Specifications
• Product Substitution
• Fraud Hazards in the Payment Step
• False, Inflated, or duplicate invoices
• Three Cases Studies involving Conflict of Interest, Bribery, and Kickbacks.
• Preventing and Detecting Procurement and Contract Fraud
• Preliminary Steps
• Pre-Award
• Post Award
• Conducting Procurement and Contract Fraud Investigations
• Remedies

http://www.fraudconference.com/uploadedfiles/fraud_conference/conte...

https://www.cips.org/Documents/Knowledge/Chapter_12_Guile%20Procure...

http://www.acfe.com/topic.aspx?id=2722