From the desk of ASOSAI Chair

Comptroller and Auditor General of India ASOSAI Chairman

Dear Members of the ASOSAI Community,

I am pleased to reach out to you once again through the October 2025 issue of the ASOSAI Journal. The theme for this edition, “Public Procurement Audits: Enhancing Transparency and Value for Money,” is both timely and important.

Public procurement is an area where public funds are most at risk. Weaknesses in procurement processes lead to not only financial loss but also cause a loss of faith in governance structures. To serve the public interest, every procurement must be guided by transparency, efficiency, and accountability. However, issues such as corruption, collusive bidding, and procedural non-compliance often undermine these goals. Such practices damage public trust and reduce the quality of services delivered to citizens.

In an era of escalating fiscal pressures and complex supply chains, robust procurement audits are not merely technical exercises but vital instruments for fostering trust, curbing inefficiencies, and maximizing societal returns on taxpayers’ money. Audit should blend rigorous compliance scrutiny with forward-looking performance assessments—to assure value for money in public contracting. This would encompass systematic scrutiny of contracts across all stages—planning, tendering, execution, and closure—supported by advanced data analytics and AI-driven anomaly detection to identify red flags and prevent fraud. Further, SAIs should strive to recommend frameworks to promote the adoption of sustainable and green procurement. Adoption of a new manual for auditing procurement and imparting training would help SAIs enhance the quality of procurement audit.

I hope this issue of the ASOSAI Journal will offer useful insights and practical guidance in this direction. I sincerely thank all contributors and member SAIs for their valuable inputs to this edition.

With my best wishes,

Shri K Sanjay Murthy

Comptroller & Auditor General of India and Chairman, ASOSAI