Ethics-Related Issues in the Tender Evaluation of Malaysia Public Projects

Abstract

Ethical practice is usually addressed in the forms of code of conduct, rules and regulations, agreement, and contract. There is a lack of empirical studies on ethical issues involving contractors during tender application submission. Therefore, to begin with, a preliminary research was conducted in an attempt to explore the presence of ethical issues at tendering stage, particularly at the beginning of the tender evaluation stage. The research methodology was qualitative as telephone interviews were used for its data collection method. The participants were selected from a purposive sampling consisting of local authorities and other agencies. Seventy-five percent of the participants claimed of having come across unethical cases. Surprisingly, the findings showed that falsifications of documents by the tenderers were identified during the tender application submission stage. It was also found that the lower grade contractors are prone to practise unethically compared to the higher-grade counterparts. The industry should seriously address these findings as it could possibly reduce the competitiveness of tenders and affect the overall project performance. This research is crucial in order to suggest the way forward for tendering practice, instil the ethical practice of the contractors, assist tender evaluators, and most importantly, elevate the study in refining the tender submission process.