Steven N.
The Hungarian Two-Tailed Dog Party (MKKP) has gained in notoriety since its official registration as a political party in Hungary in 2014. Co-chaired by Zsuzsanna “Suzi” Döme and Gergely Kovács (pictured), the party is certainly better known for its offbeat sense of humor, wicked mocking of typical political slogans, and grandiose promises of “free beer” and “eternal life” than for its sober policy proposals.
However, MKKP seems to be getting serious about at least one thing: combating public corruption. Party members were elected to local municipalities in the 2019 municipal elections, and since then the party has had an insider look at how public procurements are conducted in Hungary.
Although the state spends a significant portion of Hungarian taxpayer money on procurements, the party believes the process is a breeding ground for corrupt practices.
To counter this, MKKP has drafted a 36-page plan on implementing a clean procurement system to limit the theft of public money that takes place when overpriced work is given to “friendly” companies.
As the party writes:
The public procurement system is currently designed so that in many cases only a narrow sliver of applicants can compete. Centralized procurement needs to be open to smaller companies. We are developing a system that automatically identifies and authoritatively manages directed (manipulated) public procurement. We would end low value calls for tender. We would guarantee transparency and the ability to compare bids by publishing contracts with subcontractors and technical specifications.
We would use data sheets that analyze central prices, so that the state knows what the average market price is and can check to make sure that the procurement bid does not deviate from this amount by several orders of magnitude. The evaluation committee will be responsible for comparing the bids that come in with this market price level. In setting up a public procurement research institute, we are creating a professional basis for guaranteeing that it is efficient and verifiable in the long run.
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