*4.2.1 Electronic workflow: processing and tracking information on public procurement in Germany*

The Federal Procurement Agency in the Ministry of the Interior in Germany (FPA) has implemented an electronic workflow process which aims to centralise all procurement related information of the FPA and record the outcomes of ongoing procurement procedures during the different stages. The FPA maintains a document management system to ensure transparency as well as provide for an audit trail of all procurement decisions, investigations of suspicious transactions and also allows for the department to apply quality management to examine documents randomly or systematically in the system, while the internal audit teams can review previous transactions that have been identified as having a higher corruption risk. These inspections are not only to prevent or detect corruption, but also to ensure economically beneficial public procurement practices [16].
