A temporary or permanent suspension from public procurement (the prohibition to conclude public contracts) along with other sanctions is used to hold entities liable for corruption offences. For instance, the Russian legislation prohibits the organisations held liable for unlawful remuneration on behalf of a legal entity under article 19.28 of the Code of Administrative Offences in the two years preceding the bidding from participating in public procurement.
The World Bank’s consultative resource, based on the 2020 Global Suspension & Debarment Survey, provides a brief overview of the exclusion systems of 23 different jurisdictions and institutions*, including the following information:
- Legal and institutional framework. In the first place, the authors of the Directory analyse the legal framework regulating the possibility of exclusion from public procurement in each country (institution) and the system of bodies (officers) authorised to take decisions on exclusion, their qualification requirements and the degree of their autonomy with respect to superior authorities (officials).
- Functioning and enforcement. At this next stage, the authors examine the general exclusion procedure, including its type (criminal, administrative or other), the rules of its initiation, including the information on the persons that can take decisions on exclusion, the deadlines for making decisions, obligations to inform entities on the outcome of a decision-making process, suspension periods and the possibilities to appeal against the decisions that have been made.
- Grounds for exclusion. Here, the analysis is centered on the grounds for the decisions to exclude entities from procurement; it should be highlighted that if an entity has been held liable for corruption, this can give grounds for prohibiting it from participating in procurements almost in all countries (institutions).
- Scope and effect of exclusion. The authors further explore the categories of persons (legal and/or natural) on which relevant sanctions can be imposed, the degree of restrictions (exclusion from certain or all procurement procedures conducted in the country (institution), its effect on contracting and affiliates), their effect on ongoing contracts of the entity, duration of exclusions, and waivers to exclusions in emergencies and other circumstances.
- The exclusion list. The next part is focused on the analysis of existing lists of excluded entities and their availability both to public bodies (entities) conducting procurements and the general public, as well as on other mechanisms for ensuring transparency of the exclusion process, for instance, the obligation to check the list of excluded suppliers before granting them the possibility to bid, the requirement for regular reporting on exclusions etc.
- Limited scope exclusion systems. The last section contains information on whether the reviewed countries (institutions) have special exclusion systems, which, in particular, provide for the possibility of exclusion of a certain division, operational unit or area of activity rather than the whole entity, and subnational exclusions.
The Directory is supplemented by an online database containing information on each country (institution) consolidated in separate documents; this database allows its users to compare the existing exclusion systems across different jurisdictions.
The study covers the following countries, organisations and international agreements: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Estonia, Germany, Guatemala, Honduras, the Netherlands, Nicaragua, Poland, the State of Rajasthan (India), Serbia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden, the United States, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Bank Group Corporate Procurement, World Bank Group Sanctions System, World Trade Organization Agreement on Government Procurement.