شرایط و مزایای استفاده از راه حل های تکنولوژیکی تصمیم گیری به عنوان یک ابزار برای جلوگیری از فساد در فرایند تأمین تجهیزات: مورد مجارستان

Unethically influencing a decision maker is as old as civilization. Corruption is an especially damaging phenomenon in the field of public procurement. Experiences in curbing procurement corruption in Hungary, a former Eastern-block country which recently joined the EU, strengthens the view that by raising the level of evaluation practices through the use of decision support methodologies that can serve to narrow the possible damaging effects of corruption. This outcome may be achieved if legal regulations provide a supportive frame and organizational culture can be shaped to accommodate new decision practices.

It seems that unethically influencing a decision maker can be traced to ancient civilization. In Greek mythology, the roots of the Trojan war can be found in a ‘beauty contest’ between three goddesses: Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Paris was reputedly commanded by Zeus to decide who was judged to be ‘the fairest goddess’. In order to win the contest, Hera promised Paris power, Athena promised him wealth, while Aphrodite promised him the most beautiful woman in the world (Atsma, 2004). According to Horne (1915), Hammurapi's code, written in the 18th century BC to govern the life of Babylon, contained rules that could be interpreted as designed to prevent corruption: “Deprivation of office in perpetuity fell upon the corrupt judge” (Hooker, 1996). The situation has seemingly not changed much since the time of the Babylonians. 4000 years has passed and the issue of corruption seems more prevalent than ever before. However, as the efforts of the Babylonian King shows, fighting corruption may be as old as the epidemic itself and there are increasing numbers of tools and successful examples available to show how to effectively fight corruption (Lai, 2002; Søreide, 2002; Keller and Langseth, 2003). This paper looks at technical ways to curb corruption in public procurement using non-legalistic solutions based on decision technology ideas. After 18 years of supporting decision making in procurement procedures and international bidding processes in Hungary, the Decision Technologies Research Group (DTRG) of the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BUTE) has amassed experience regarding the potential of decision methodologies and decision support tools. These solutions have been successfully applied in limiting the potential damage of corruption in Hungarian public and private procurement activities. The application practice and benefits of proper decision analysis solutions have also been developed in the complex space created by the law, contemporary corporate transformation, education, and software tools. In the second section of the paper, the effects of corruption are reviewed including some of the most important anti-corruption tools. The third section introduces the decision support methodology and software tool developed by the DTRG. Section 4 presents some experiences with applying the approach in the public procurement arena to fight corruption and presents some important preconditions of success. Section 5 provides specific details of previous experiences using Hungary as an example. It includes a short overview of public procurement and anticorruption efforts in Hungary. Section 6 reviews the main recommendations.

The wide-ranging practice and experience sketched in this paper resulted in several lessons to share. Overall, findings suggest that raising the quality level of decision-making can go a long way in curbing corruption. To be more precise, it may not result in fewer attempts or lower amounts in bribes but it appears to lower the impact of potentially corrupt behaviour. The DTRG does not claim that the particular methodology and the tool it uses is the ‘panacea’ to cure procurement corruption, nor does it intend to compare it to other available solutions, rather, DTRG's long practice serves as an intended proof that the application of decision support techniques in general has a strong and beneficial effect. The group believes it is worthwhile to strengthen the presence of these techniques in order to reach potential results mentioned above. To arrive at a more frequent application of decision technological solutions it is not enough to spread their use, but three influencing factors should come together as well. First, the procurement law should be demanding in this respect and should also ensure supportive surroundings. While fulfilling the goal to be supportive the law should avoid oversimplification: the aim to be more transparent and easier to be followed should not result in the simplification of applicable evaluation methods as that would lead to technically unacceptable results regarding the quality of the outcome of procurement projects. Second, at the level of individual procuring organizations it is necessary to demand the creation of quality processes and the application of appropriate decision-making technologies during procuring activities. Finally, procurement education, including both general professional programs as well as courses tailored to individual organizations, needs to be of two kinds. On the one hand there is a need for specific decision analysis courses directed towards procurement professionals (that prepares them to become trained decision analyst within their field); on the other hand, general procurement courses should include decision analysis as a topic (thereby recognizing the importance of decision-making related knowledge).