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Public Procurement Overview: What is Public Procurement?
Abstract
Fundamentally, public procurement is the use of public funds by public entities to acquire goods and/or services to achieve public goals. The guiding principle in procurement, whether public or private, is to obtain the best value for money (O’Regan, D., 2008). All levels of government engage in some type of procurement activities, from municipal purchases of office supplies to federal acquisitions of tanks and aircraft. In addition to the purchase of goods, governments are large procurers of services, ranging from substance abuse and mental health programs at the state level to security forces deployed abroad at the federal level. Procurement is a critical government activity that is only growing with the increase in the contracting of government services.KeywordsPublic procurementProcurement processRegulationVulnerabilitiesFraud
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