Multiple contract awards to the same company that are clustered just below a procurement threshold (for example, multiple sole source contract awards to one company for $49,000, when the limit for sole source awards is $50,000), is a strong indicator of possible corruption.
Be particularly alert for such awards that appear to be the result of contract splitting, that is, separating what should be one contract into several contracts to avoid exceeding the appropriate threshold.
Also be alert for a small firm that receives multiple contracts just under a threshold for a wide variety of disparate goods or services. This can indicate it is a shell company or broker controlled by a project official.
Do a due diligence background check on suspect firms and officials.
This red flag can indicate the following schemes:
Click on the schemes listed above to see more information on each scheme, a more complete listing of their red flags and steps to determine if the schemes are actually present.