This document discusses the role of the Office of the Auditor General of Thailand (OAG) in auditing public procurement to ensure transparency and accountability. It outlines OAG's mandate to audit procurement, its three-phase approach of auditing procurement planning, tendering/awarding, and contract management. OAG uses document verification, tender observation, and physical inspection. Common audit findings include lack of procurement planning, non-competitive bidding, conflicts of interest, and contract mismanagement. OAG reports its findings to improve the integrity and reduce corruption risks of Thailand's public procurement system. It aims to expand performance audits and encourage good governance and citizen engagement in procurement oversight.

1. Auditing Public Procurement
Roles of the Office of the Auditor General of Thailand
in Ensuring Transparency and Accountability
in Public Procurement
Dr. Sutthi Suntharanurak
Office of the Auditor General of Thailand
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2. Outline
• Background of Public Procurement in Thailand
• Auditing Public Procurement of OAG Thailand
• Looking Forward to Improve Auditing Public
Procurement in Thailand
2

3. Background of Public Procurement in Thailand
3
Regulation of the Office of the
Prime Minister on
Procurement of 1992
(ROPMP)
Fairness
Prudence
Transparency
Accountability

4. Main Actors in Public Procurement in Thailand
4
The Public
Procurement
Office
(PPMO)
The Committee
in Charge of
Procurement
(CCP)
Office of the
Auditor
General of
Thailand
(OAG)
National Anti-
Corruption
Commission
(NACC)
Government
Agencies

5. Public Procurement Method in Thailand
• Price agreeing (negotiating) method
• Price inquiry (selective tendering) method
• Competitive bidding (open tendering) method
• Special (limited tendering) method
• Special case method
• Electronic procurement (E-auction)
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6. Factors of selecting procurement method
• Value of Contract
• The nature of good or services
• The urgency of the procurement
• E-Auction  Over THB 2 Million (Approx USD 50,000)
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7. Government Procurement website
www.gprocurement.go.th
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8. Auditing Public Procurement
of OAG Thailand
• Office of the Auditor General of Thailand is the
supreme audit institution (sai) in Thailand.
• Under the Organic Act of State Audit B.E.2542
(1999), OAG has a mandate to audit public
procurement.
• The Lima Declaration of Guideline on Audit
Precepts
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9. Section 21 of Lima Declaration
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10. Value and Benefit of
Auditing Public Procurement
1. Ensuring accountability and transparency
2. Preventing improper procurement practices
3. Improving upon past procurement performance
10

11. 11
Audit Approach
Regularity Audit Performance Audit
Financial Audit Compliance Audit Value for Money

12. Auditing Public Procurement
of OAG Thailand
• OAG Thailand have conducted compliance
audit in public procurement.
• We established Procurement and Investigative
Office (PIO) to serve public procurement audit.
• The main objective of auditing public
procurement is to ensure that the procurement
process of goods and services including public
works have been conducted the public
procurement law & regulations.
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13. Three Phases in Public Procurement Audit
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1
• Audit of Preparation of Procurement Plan
2
• Audit of Tendering and Awarding Processes
3
• Audit of Contract Management

14. Three Perspectives
for auditing public procurement
To obtain value for money
To support competitive
public procurement market
To ensure transparency
process
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15. Audit Method in public procurement
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Document
Verification
Physical
Observation
Tendering
Observation

16. Auditing of Preparation of Procurement Plan
• The Notification of State Audit Commission
about making preparation of procurement
plan of audit entities B.E. 2546 (2003)
• The audit objective is to enhance the good
governance in the public procurement system
of audit entities.
• Audit Method  Documentary Verification
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17. Audit of tendering and awarding process
• The audit objective is to examine the accuracy of
tendering and awarding processes under
relevance laws and regulations.
• Audit Method  Document Verification
 Tendering Observation
• Audit criteria  Transparency
 Accountability
 Fairness
 Competitive
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18. Main Processes which auditor will examine
1
• The Identification of needs  Document Verification
2
• Bidding Process  Document Verification and Tendering observation
• Under transparency, fairness, non-discrimination, and competition
3
• Estimating cost  Document Verification
• Under reasonable cost
4
• Evaluation committee  Document Verification
• Under issues of avoiding conflict of interest, fair decision for selecting of awarding
bidder
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19. Audit of Contract Management
• The audit objective is to examine the
execution of public procurement contract.
• Audit Method  Document Verification
 Physical observation
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20. Audit Phase
Audit Method
Documentary
Verification
Tendering
Observation
Physical
Observation
Preparation of
procurement plan /
Tendering and
awarding processes / /
Contract
management / /
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21. Some audit findings in Public Procurement
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• The audit entities did not prepare procurement plan.
• At requirement stages, the audit entities had
inadequate review of existing and required inventory.
Preparation
Procurement Plan
• The specifications are not clearly defined. (Lock out specification)
•A very limited number of offers received.  Limited competition
•Document indicates unusual involvement of an official.
•Suspicious about conflict of interest
•Evidence of early receipt of information by some contractors
•Request for proposal is not properly advertised.
•Bid rigging or Collusion among bidders
•Unusual handling of bidding process
•Evaluation criteria are not consistent for different bidders.
•Exceptions to the tender deadlines
•Excessive project cost
Tendering and
Awarding Processes
•Project has been unused.
•Changes in a contract result in a large increase in the cost of goods and
services
•Changes made without adequate information.
•Unwarranted contract extension
•Complaints about the quality of goods and services received
•Inadequate inspections and quality assurance of goods and service received
•Dubious invoices
Contract Management

22. Audit Finding in Public Procurement
Fiscal Year* Number of cases
of audit finding
Volume
(Billion Baht)
2012 1,183 13.35
2013 1,865 27.13
2014** 1,065 5.51
Source: Office of the Auditor General of Thailand
* In Thailand, the fiscal year is started at 1st October till 30 September.
** The data is showed between 1 October 2013 and 30 April 2014.
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23. Audit Reporting
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Office of the Auditor
General of Thailand
State Audit
Commission
Parliament
Council of Ministry
Audited entities
National
Anti-Corruption
Commission

24. OAG and Citizen Engagement
in Public Procurement
Public Procurement Watch with OAG
http://procurement-oag.in.th/
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25. Looking forward to improve auditing public
procurement in Thailand
Auditing
Public Procurement
To encourage the integrity of
procurement system
To reduce the risk of corruption in
public procurement
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26. Looking Forward in Auditing Public Procurement
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Compliance
Audit in Public
Procurement
Performance Audit in
Public Procurement
which focused on 3Es-
Economy, Efficiency and
Effectiveness
Good Governance in
Public Procurement
which is under
concept of
transparency,
accountability,
supporting
competition, and
citizen engagement

27. Procurement Performance Model
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