Choice architecture and ethics in public procurement

The article analyzes ethics not as a sum of individual virtues, but as a result of the incentive architecture within institutions and public procurement. The author indicates that when reward systems prioritize short-term gain over responsibility, ethical behavior becomes a "private tax." Drawing on the concepts of Douglass North and mechanism design theory (including incentive compatibility), the text argues for the necessity of designing rules of the game in which the rational interest of participants aligns with the common good. By referencing Jeffrey Bulger's tools, such as the Procurement Equity Appendix, the author emphasizes the importance of translating ethical values into specific contractual provisions to avoid conflicts between declarations and execution, and to replace moral heroism with a sustainable systemic infrastructure.