Handbags at dawn
If a supplier offered you designer handbag as an incentive to winning business, how would you react?
I would hope such brazen gift pushing would be rejected out of hand and the vendors’ name noted in a black book.
But, as the BBC has uncovered, when it comes to bidding on major sporting events, these ethics are not so clear. Yesterday, the broadcaster revealed that England’s 2018 World Cup bid team plan to give “luxury handbags” to the wives of all 24 members of Fifa’s voting committee.
Richard Caborn, ambassador for England’s bid insists the team is working within the rules, but the move has been condemned in certain corners. Shadow sports minister Hugh Robertson said the gifts were “a massive misjudgement”.
This surely raises questions over the integrity of the whole bidding procedure. At its core, it is fundamentally a procurement process, with competing suppliers aiming to win a money spinning and hugely prestigious contract.
As such, Fifa should learn from buyers and adopt standards where gift giving is not tolerated and sporting events are awarded solely on the merit of the most competitive supplier.
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I don’t see how this is different – other than in scale – to the accusations against BAE that may come to court at some stage. If I were BAE I’d be ready to quote this example – “acceptable business practice in some parts of the world…that’s all we were doing ” etc.
And I think the corrosive effect of even a few handbags is that (particularly in countries where corruption is a major problem) people see their leaders behaving like this and think “well, if my FIFA representative thinks its OK to accept gifts, why shouldn’t I accept a little something from my favoured supplier….”
FIFA corrupt?
The award of the world cup is NOT fundamentally a procurement process, it is absolutely 100% a political game. There is no objective ‘merit’ to measure.
Peter, is a tiny poke in the shoulder the same as a battering with a sledgehammer? Just a matter of degree.