Public Procurement as the Object of Audit and Management of the United Rural Territorial Communities in the Context of Decentralization

Abstract

United territorial communities in the context of decentralization are authorized to carry out public procurement at their own discretion. However, additional responsibility reinforces the need to involve the institution of audit as a guarantor of the economic and social feasibility of the process. The purpose of the article is to determine the place of public procurement as one of the objects of the national audit system in order to increase the efficiency of management of united territorial communities. It was found that, despite the improvement of legislative regulation in the sphere of public procurement, the illegal, often “lobbied” use of budgetary funds requires increased control, both from the state and the public, and from the actual administration of the united territorial communities. The theoretical and methodological foundations of the state audit of public procurement were revealed. The directions of improving the state audit of the public procurement process in united rural territorial communities were proposed, while observing the priority of sustainable development goals. The capabilities of the electronic public procurement platform Prozorro were critically assessed. The reasons and prerequisites for the elimination of the corruption component of the public procurement process at the local (united territorial communities) and global (national economy) levels were identified. The need for IT-auditing in the field of legality and economic feasibility of using budget funds in rural territorial communities was proved. The impact of the audit on the general system of information and analytical support of management consists in assessing the effectiveness of activity processes, information processes and control procedures in order to improve the management model of activity and, accordingly, the decision-making system.