UC Santa Barbara

ABSTRACT Governments are usually the largest purchasers of goods and services, creating significant opportunities for corruption. We study whether offering training and technical assistance to procurement officials in 50 Ugandan districts prompted them to publish procurement actions on an online public portal, as legally required. Among districts that received the training and technical assistance program, we randomized whether procurement officials received information in advance about their eligibility to earn a public award for adherence to these transparency standards. We use national administrative data across multiple financial years and 134 district governments to evaluate impacts. The training and technical assistance program increased the number and value of procurement actions uploaded several‐fold, while award eligibility did not have similarly large effects. These results suggest that motivation problems may be overemphasized in the fight against corruption. Building capacity in accounting and transparency could provide effective guardrails against corruption. Evidence for Practice A targeted capacity building program improved the performance of local government officials at meeting transparency standards in procurement. Offering public awards to bureaucrats is complementary to training and technical assistance, with marginal evidence that it increases willingness to meet transparency standards. Anti‐corruption advocates should focus on boosting the performance of accounting officers and improving routine accounting practices, rather than just prosecuting corrupt acts. Addressing capacity constraints in public procurement is likely a key way to improve the performance of the public sector at meeting its obligations.