Unjustified Privileges in Public Contracts

Abstract

Public contracts are among the most important tools that the Algerian legislator has placed in the hands of the administration to meet public needs and achieve public benefit. They constitute the main channel through which public funds circulate. Accordingly, Algerian legislation has attached great importance to them by regulating the contract award phase, subjecting them to specific oversight, and granting them a more effective and stringent form of protection than others, namely criminal protection of the rules governing public contracts within the framework of the law relating to the prevention and fight against corruption. This is intended to ensure the efficiency of public procurement and to strengthen the principles of transparency, integrity, and fair competition. However, despite the legislator’s efforts to establish a preventive system aimed at safeguarding public funds and rationalizing public expenditure, violations may occur by those in charge of public contracts, through the granting of unjustified privileges either intentionally or as a result of error. This constitutes a breach of the legislative and regulatory provisions governing public contracts and an infringement of the principles of freedom of participation, equality, and procedural transparency.