Transactional Talk with Andrea Longobucco and Joras Ferwerda: Can AI Tools Detect Corruption in Public Procurement? Analyzing Europe’s Public Procurement Data Ecosystem for AI tools
We cordially invite you to the Transactional Talk entitled ‘Can AI Tools Detect Corruption in Public Procurement? Analyzing Europe’s Public Procurement Data Ecosystem for AI tools’. The event is organised by Andrea Longobucco and Joras Ferwerda within the framework of the IOS Platform ‘The Transactional State as an Institution for Good’ and the Utrecht University Centre for Public Procurement (UUCePP).
Abstract
This talk introduces an empirical audit of procurement-related open data across 41 European jurisdictions - the EU-27, plus all current or potential accession countries on the continent. We are conducting a comparative study of ’data suitable for AI purposes’. We highlight what each country actually publishes online, and whether this would be sufficient for algorithms to link suppliers, decision-makers, and money flows, such as data about beneficial ownership of companies, political donations, media ownership, procurement complaints, supervisory body inspections, etc.
For each country, we aim to give a detailed profile that captures coverage, machine-readability, update frequency, openness, cross-referencing potential, and the proportion of missing values highlighted by previous benchmarks such as Europam and Open Contracting. These characteristics feed into a multi-dimensional Data Readiness Index that shows where fragmentation and interoperability gaps still prevent meaningful AI analysis, and where high-quality data already enables real-time monitoring possibilities.
The presentation also provides an introduction to artificial intelligence tools to explain how an artificial intelligence model works and which one might be the most reliable for detecting corruption in public procurement. The aim is to provide researchers and policymakers with an evidence-based roadmap for transforming raw data into actionable, AI-enabled transparency.
The Speakers
Andrea Longobucco joined the Utrecht University School of Economics in October 2024 as a PhD candidate in Applied Economics, conducting research within the EU-funded project BridgeGap ("Bridging the Gaps in Evidence, Regulation and Impact of Anti-Corruption Policies"). His work focuses on the use of artificial intelligence to detect and understand corruption, with a particular focus on public procurement as a key area where corrupt practices often occur. He combines interdisciplinary approaches with advanced quantitative methods to uncover hidden patterns and inform better policy-making.
Joras Ferwerda is currently Associate Professor at the Utrecht University School of Economics. He is also on the academic board of the Catholic University of Milan for the international PhD criminology programme and coordinator of the UU AI Lab Sustainable Finance. He was Visiting Professor at the University of Maryland, College Park at the Criminology and Criminal Justice department and Senior Researcher at the section Criminology of VU University Amsterdam. He is a certified money laundering expert for the Dutch National Police. At the moment, Joras leads the EU-funded BridgeGap project, in which he is doing research into the use of artificial intelligence to fight corruption.
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- Location
- Janskerkhof 2/3 (room 110) or online