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Corruption prevention in procurement and contract management

Procurement and contract management are areas regularly investigated by the ICAC. The way that an organisation carries out its procurement and contract management activities has a significant impact on the likelihood of corruption occurring.

This workshop is designed for staff with procurement duties, contract management roles or responsibility for overseeing these functions. It focuses on helping participants understand what corrupt conduct is, relevant corruption risks and how applying basic probity and risk management principles can assist them in achieving good outcomes while preventing corruption.

Who should attend?

  • NSW public-sector and local-government managers with line-management responsibility for procurement and/or contract management, with or without specific skills in procurement
  • procurement managers
  • designers of procurement/contract management policy documents or processes
  • staff with other significant procurement and/or contract management responsibilities such as lawyers and finance officers
  • procurement and contract management policy writers and business improvement practitioners
  • corruption prevention and governance officers
  • risk managers
  • internal auditors.

The workshop is also suitable for people involved in other commercial areas such as property leasing.

Note: These workshops are NOT intended for staff who simply buy off established contracts or catalogues, or do not deal directly with suppliers. Probity in procurement is a more suitable workshop for those individuals. To attend this workshop, participants should be involved in obtaining or assessing quotations, managing contractors, supervising people who carry out these activities or approving the purchases or procurement activities carried out by others. 

Workshop options

Corruption prevention in procurement and contract management is offered in-person as either a half-day or full-day workshop or online depending on the organisation’s needs and other considerations. While appropriate activity scenarios and case examples will be selected to cater to the specific needs of the participants, we are unable to offer a fully-customised workshop except in special circumstances.

Full-day in-person workshop

Duration

This workshop requires a time commitment of 7.5 hours including 15-minute morning and afternoon tea breaks and a 30-minute lunch break. This workshop is normally scheduled from 9.00 am to 4.30 pm.

Attendee numbers

A minimum of 18 attendees is required with a maximum of 26.

Learning outcomes

This workshop is designed to help public officials involved in procurement and contract management to:

  • become aware of the ICAC, its role, functions and powers
  • understand the nature of corruption and the types of conduct that could constitute corruption under the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988 ("the ICAC Act")
  • identify conduct that is required to be reported to the ICAC under section 11 of the ICAC Act
  • understand the factors that motivate, allow, encourage or are used to justify corrupt conduct 
  • understand the probity principles that underpin integrity in procurement and contract management processes
  • understand the corruption risks in procurement and contract management and some of strategies for managing these risks
  • identify and manage conflicts of interest 
  • understand the role of managers in preventing corruption in procurement and contract management.

Workshop content

This workshop assists managers and staff with responsibility for procurement activities to identify where the weaknesses in their systems and opportunities for corruption may lie. It will also help participants understand what they can do to prevent corruption in the procurement context.

About the ICAC

  • powers and oversight
  •  jurisdiction
  • reporting corruption and public interest disclosures.

Recognising corruption in procurement and contract management

  • the nature of corruption
  • past case examples
  • costs of corruption
  • probity principles and their impact on corruption.

Why people act corruptly

  • motivations for corruption
  • gifts and grooming
  • capture, influence and allegiance
  • identifying and managing conflicts of interest.

Corruption opportunities and risks in procurement

  • common corruption opportunities and risks in procurement
  • stage-specific corruption risks
  • risk management strategies.

Corruption prevention

  • the control inherent in tight operations
  • the elements of control
  • process design and management
  • risk management
  • supporting the basic standards
  • how your organisation can improve
  • managers’ roles in corruption prevention

Half-day in-person workshop

Duration

This workshop requires a time commitment of 3.5 hours including a 15-minute break. It is normally scheduled from 9.00 am to 12.30 pm or 1.00 pm to 4.30 pm.

Attendee numbers

A minimum of 18 attendees is required with a maximum of 26.

Learning outcomes

This workshop is designed to help public officials involved in procurement and contract management to:

  • become aware of the ICAC, its role, functions and powers
  • understand the nature of corruption and the types of conduct that could constitute corruption under the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988 ("the ICAC Act")
  • identify conduct that is required to be reported to the ICAC under section 11 of the ICAC Act
  • become aware of the factors that motivate, allow, encourage or are used to justify corrupt conduct 
  • understand the probity principles that underpin integrity in procurement and contract management processes
  • become aware of some of the corruption risks in procurement and contract management
  • identify and manage conflicts of interest.

Workshop content

This workshop assists managers and staff with responsibility for procurement activities to identify where the weaknesses in their systems and opportunities for corruption may lie. It will also help participants understand what they can do to prevent corruption in the procurement context.

About the ICAC

  • powers and oversight
  • jurisdiction
  • reporting corruption and public interest disclosures.

Recognising corruption in procurement and contract management

  • the nature of corruption
  • past case examples
  • probity principles and their impact on corruption.

Why people act corruptly

  • motivations for corruption
  • gifts and grooming
  • capture, influence and allegiance.

Corruption opportunities and risks in procurement

  • common corruption opportunities and risks in procurement and contract management
  • stage-specific corruption risks.

Corruption prevention

  • opportunities in weak operations
  • identifying and managing conflicts of interest
  • how your organisation can improve.

CP in procurement and contract management online workshop – In-house and for individuals

Duration

This workshop is based on the full-day in-person workshop program. It requires a time commitment of approximately 4.75 hours, including: 

  • pre-reading taking approximately 20 minutes to complete
  • an online workshop delivered in 2 two-hour blocks with a 1-hour break in between. Participants are asked to log in 15 minutes before the content start time to address any technical issues that may arise
  • a mid-session activity taking approximately 10 minutes to complete.

This workshop is normally scheduled from 9.45 am to 3.00 pm.

The live component is normally scheduled from 9.45 am to 3.00 pm, allowing 15 minutes at the beginning to address any technical issues that may arise. To maximise the opportunity for interaction, this workshop has been designed for attendance by individuals all logging in from their own devices rather than people attending together in a group on one device or in a shared space.

Attendee numbers

A minimum of 15 attendees is required with a maximum of 26.

Learning outcomes

This workshop is designed to help public officials involved in procurement and contract management to:

  • become aware of the ICAC, its role, functions and powers
  • understand the nature of corruption and the types of conduct that could constitute corruption under the Independent Commission Against Corruption Act 1988 ("the ICAC Act")
  • identify conduct that is required to be reported to the ICAC under section 11 of the ICAC Act
  • understand the factors that motivate, allow, encourage or are used to justify corrupt conduct 
  • understand the probity principles that underpin integrity in procurement and contract management processes
  • understand the corruption risks in procurement and contract management and some of strategies for managing these risks
  • identify and manage conflicts of interest 
  • the role of managers in preventing corruption in procurement and contract management.

Workshop content

This workshop assists managers and staff with responsibility for procurement activities to identify where the weaknesses in their systems and opportunities for corruption may be. It will also help participants understand what they can do to prevent corruption in the procurement context.

About the ICAC

  • powers and oversight
  • jurisdiction
  • reporting corruption and public interest disclosures.

Recognising corruption in procurement and contract management

  • the nature of corruption
  • past case examples
  • probity principles and their impact on corruption.

Why people act corruptly

  • motivations for corruption
  • gifts and grooming
  • capture, influence and allegiance.

Corruption opportunities and risks in procurement

  • common corruption opportunities and risks in procurement and contract management
  • stage-specific corruption risks
  • risk management strategies.

Corruption prevention

  • opportunities in weak operations
  • identifying and managing conflicts of interest
  • how your organisation can improve.

Delivery platform for in-house workshops

The Commission prefers to use Zoom, but Microsoft Teams is also an option. If your organisation uses a different platform, we are willing to consider using it provided it supports our functionality requirements. 

Costs for online and in-person workshops

Tuition

The ICAC provides all of its workshops to NSW public officials free-of-charge.

Travel expenses

We will cover our trainers’ travel expenses. 

Materials

Your organisation may be asked to make copies of training materials for distribution to attendees at in-person workshops.

Venue and equipment 

For in-person workshops, it is the agency’s responsibility to provide a venue and to cover the cost of any associated venue or equipment hire. The facilitator will bring a laptop, but a data projector, screen and whiteboard will need to be provided.

Catering

For in-person workshops, the agency is expected to provide basic refreshments for attendees and facilitators for all scheduled tea and lunch breaks.

Book a workshop

Individual public officials

To see what workshops are currently available for individual public officials, and to register, visit the Free workshops calendar and complete the registration form for each workshop you would like to attend.

Agencies

To book an in-house workshop for staff at your agency, please contact workshops@icac.nsw.gov.au to discuss your needs.