Gov't IT procurement tenders 'consistently breaking competition laws'

Purcon - Employees in government procurement jobs are consistently breaking the law by specifying brands when tendering IT contracts, a new report claims.

The Openforum Europe annual assessment of procurement practice found that 13 per cent of a sample of tenders made specific reference to brands or trademarks.

This is in direct conflict with the requirement to open up tenders to competitors, who can then bid for contracts.

The report found that some governments are restricting their tender to one preferred supplier without any reference to competitors.

Bob Blatchford, chief operating officer at Openforum Europe suggests that evidence of this trend is "just the tip of the iceberg".