“No more going to Nandos”: Rudimentary statistics and venal public servants in tender adjudication

Abstract

This paper advances the notion that corruption in public service is perpetrated by the corruptibility of functionaries. The psychopathology of corruption demonstrates that hominids are inherently venal and will thus continually reconnoitre ways of extracting personal wealth from the state. While castigatory actions and detection systems are a deterrent, they have proven to assist in as far as bureaucrats master the systems. In time, though, public functionaries device devious strategies to navigate away from detection., It is against this background that this paper postulates that measures for eliminating the human factor and potential for insider trading rom supplier selection could provide for self-checking that would curb fraudulent award of tenders. This hypothesis is tested through statistical summaries such as standard deviation for the determination of the most responsive tenderer in terms of price. Such measures could render it impossible for the adjudicator to pre-empt the most responsive tenderer and thus eliminate insider trading.