COMPETITION IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT IN THE FIGHT AGAINST CORRUPTION: ANALYSIS OF AN EXAMPLE OF UKRAINE

Corruption, as a social phenomenon, destroys the system of government, jeopardizes basic democratic values, delays economic development, and impedes the development of healthy competition in the economy. The increasing number of anti-corruption measures that have arisen around the world in the past few decades testify to the importance of this issue. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the anti-corruption measures that exist internationally in the field of public procurement. This paper will also research and analyze the innovations that have been adopted into Ukrainian legislation, and consider their impact on overcoming corruption in the public economy sector. The results of the study show that thanks to public procurement reforms, the introduction of e-procurement, transparency in the tender processes, and increased leverage on unfair bidders, there has been a tendency to make savings in public finances. At the same time, competition remains low due to imperfect legislation and low trust in the integrity of officials. In the fight against corruption, the authors consider it necessary to increase competition in procurement by enhancing operational control of procedures, namely the development of a public procurement monitoring system. The study presented reveals the widespread corruption schemes that have been developed in the system of public procurement in Ukraine, reveals the cause and effect of the inadequacy of the reforms carried out, and develops directions for further reforms of the system in order to overcome corruption in the public sector.