Transparency in Concluding Administrative Contracts: A Comparative Study

Abstract

Administration plays a significant role in creating civil contracts, while its role in the case of administrative contracts is limited. This is due to the privacy associated with these contracts, where the legislator intervenes to regulate administrative contracts. This is based on considerations related to financial dependency and ensuring the implementation of public projects, as well as other considerations related to selecting contractors based on competition, equality, and transparency. These considerations confine the administration's freedom in contracting. The necessity for the administration to adhere to the principle of transparency in the procedures for concluding administrative contracts is an important constraint that responds to the administration's freedom in contracting. In order for administrative contracts to fulfill their intended role, they must be free from administrative and financial corruption, which primarily leads to wasting public funds and damaging public resources of the state. This, in turn, weakens national economy. So, without transparency, the procedures preceding the conclusion of such contracts are flawed. Bidders have the right to challenge the administration's decision to award the tender before the judiciary. The lack of transparency in these procedures increases the possibility of a significant entry point for corruption in the management of such contracts. Forms of corruption may include designing specifications in favor of a specific bidder, withholding contract-related information, adopting contracting methods that do not achieve competition among the candidates, justifying these methods by claiming exceptional circumstances, leaking information about potential bidders' offers, excluding a bidder by imposing impossible conditions, or providing certain privileges to a bidder in exchange for favors to employees. Transparency requires the availability of information regarding the terms and conditions for contracting with the administration.