Competition in public procurement helps to increase value for money for the procuring entity, while at the same time offering fair opportunities for potential bidding organisations.

To prevent non-competitive practices in public procurement, principles of competition and transparency must be defined in legislation and regulations. To complement a strong legal framework there needs to be oversight from independent bodies, and civil society should be empowered to hold the government and procurement bodies to account.

In Ethiopia, a newly implemented procurement law has had some impact on corruption in public procurement generally, and has helped to reduce the amount of contracts that are tendered non-competitively. However non-competitive practices are still an issue, particularly in the telecommunications sector. The country suffers from a lack of opportunity for civil society oversight, meaning that there is still the possibility for procurement laws to be abused or circumvented, as enforcement remains inconsistent.