The World Bank estimates that governments in developing countries spend $820 billion a year on procurement, presenting huge, but precarious, opportunities for multi-national companies positioned to provide goods and services for those governments. The 2014 OECD Foreign Bribery Report found that 57% of the global foreign bribery enforcement actions it studied involved bribes to obtain public procurement contracts. This three-part article series is designed to help companies mitigate the risks associated with participating in a public tender. This, the first article in the series, examines how procurement works, the riskiest points of the process and common bribery schemes related to procurement. The second article will detail six steps a company should take before engaging in the procurement process; and the final article will explore additional actions a company should take during and after the procurement process. See “Key Compliance Takeaways from the OECD Foreign Bribery Report” (Dec. 17, 2014).