Course Outline

The Procurement Process 

• Discuss the phases of the procurement process while you review contracting and payment systems. 
• Also, learn the differences between government and private purchasing procedures.

Legal Elements of Procurement Fraud 

• If you discover a procurement scheme, how do you know if it is illegal? 
• Has the perpetrator committed a crime? Discuss the legal statutes that are most commonly used to prosecute procurement schemes. 
• You will also learn what civil laws may allow for litigation directly against the perpetrator and how qui tam actions may be pursued

Bribery and Corruption 

• Unfortunately, the payment of bribes and kickbacks occurs more often than you might think. But although they are common, they are often hard to detect and prove. 
• Discover the most common types of corruption schemes and provide insight into how to catch them.

Collusion Among Contractors 

• Bid-rigging occurs in many different forms. 
• This session will focus on those schemes in which prospective bidders team up against the contracting entity to submit false bids and inflate prices.

Collusion Between Contractors and Employees 

• Many schemes involve collusion between the contractor and one or more employees of the contracting entity. 
• Explore recognition and bid tailoring schemes. 
• These schemes can be very costly if they are not stopped early.

Fraud in Procurement Without Competition 

• Learn about the common schemes in the sole-source contracting process, including employee purchases for personal use or resale, and purchases that fall below a threshold limit.

Performance Schemes 

• Once the contractor begins performing the work, a whole host of new fraud schemes open up. This session will cover schemes involving defective pricing and non-conforming goods and services.

Vendor Management 

• Organizations need to take specific steps to reduce the risk of vendor fraud. This section covers vendor due diligence, managing via contracts, conflicts of interest and right to audit.

Detection and Prevention 

• Procurement schemes can be difficult to detect and prevent, partly because these schemes can take on various forms, occur in any stage of the procurement process and tend to take place over a long period.
• Examine ways to detect the schemes and also tailor proactive procurement fraud detection and prevention programs to the specific risks within an organization.

Investigating Procurement Fraud 

• One of the first responses to suspected procurement fraud is to develop an investigation plan. Learn methods of collecting information, conducting interviews and performing an analysis.