Believe it or not, procurement fraud is the second largest economic crime in terms of losses, trailing only theft.

This statistic usually gets overlooked, but it’s one that has affected the federal government for decades. In fact, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, procurement fraud impacts an astounding 29 percent of all organizations each year, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses to government agencies.

Procurement fraud occurs when a company offers goods or services but either fails to deliver, under delivers or rigs the process against the rules to gain an advantage over competitors. Some common forms of procurement fraud include bribery, bid-rigging, embezzlement and submission of false claims. This is especially concerning when you are talking about business to government procurement, considering that money comes straight from the taxpayer. Government needs to find better ways to protect itself from this type of fraud.

Keep reading this article at: http://www.federaltimes.com/articles/fighting-federal-procurement-fraud-commentary