Integrity Pacts in the EU: six takeaways from the journey so far
In 2016, one in three Europeans felt that their governments and political leaders were mostly or entirely corrupt. Just as Transparency International published this figure (from our Global Corruption Barometer survey of Europe and Central Asia), I began working on a project with civil society and motivated individuals in governments across the EU to show that corruption is not inevitable. Our tool is the Integrity Pact and our focus is public procurement, a sector which sees corruption-related losses of almost €5 billion per year in the EU alone.
The Integrity Pact is a signed commitment by contractors and bidders in public contracts to act with integrity and transparency. An independent organisation monitors compliance with that commitment. Local government, civil society and private companies are using this to collaboratively ensure that 17 big public contracts in 11 EU countries are being run efficiently, accountably and in the public interest, so that taxpayers’ money goes where it’s supposed to.
We are now almost two years into the project and last month, in Bucharest, almost 100 people met to see how far we had come and what was left to do. Representatives came from national procurement agencies, the private sector, national, regional and local authorities, and civil society monitoring these 17 public contracts. Together we represented over 50 organisations.
I came away from the meeting excited in particular by six things that I felt had changed since we last met in 2016:
1) In the beginning, we found that many of our counterparts in government or the private sector were apprehensive about how to work with NGOs. We have now reached a point where civil society is being seen as a constructive partner; not waiting to pounce at every misstep but keen to support those seeking to make public procurement better. Last month, the open and frank discussions, the attempts to find solutions together and a genuine buzz in the corridors really brought that home for me.
“When we received the invitation to be part of the project, we were enthusiastic but worried that the IP would increase bureaucracy. Actually the IP allows us to be more effective in the detection and prevention of irregularities.” Anna Vespa, Procurement and Tender Officer, Sardinia Regional Transport Company, Italy.
2) At the same time, as civil society we have a tendency to define ourselves as opponents rather than counterparts to the public and private sectors. Yet for the most part, government officials and business people are equally committed to high ideals of integrity and service. It was clear at our meeting that we as civil society have become more willing to recognise that we are working on the same side.
3) Constructive relationships are not always perfectly harmonious. They are about holding a shared vision, but not always agreeing on how to get there. They are about working through disagreements to find a common way. The Integrity Pact process is built on this premise and it takes brave and persistent actors like those present in Bucharest last month to make it happen.
4) The project is now at an advanced enough stage that the value of civil society monitoring through an Integrity Pact is becoming clearly evident. Fear that the pact will replicate existing oversight without adding anything useful is diminishing. Beyond fulfilling a watchdog function, it was encouraging to hear from people at the meeting how IPs have already brought concrete, additional advantages to the public procurement processes they are monitoring.
“Working with the Stefan Batory Foundation we have implemented a whistleblower policy for the first time. Our partnership has helped us to bring our processes in line with our values by strengthening our corporate governance.” Joanna Nowak, Legal Advisor, ZUE S.A., Poland.
Joanna Nowak spoke about how, encouraged by the IP project, her railway construction company decided to implement a whistleblowing policy and improve the ethics policy they had in place. CSOs have helped public authorities by sharing the burden of navigating complex contracts. They have mobilised public engagement with certain projects, and introduced new best practices or creative solutions to various procurement issues.
5) It is clear that we all want to be good citizens but don’t always know how — especially when it comes to things like government contracts. One active community in Sybaris has both humbled and inspired me. They believe they can make a difference and are taking steps to do so.
6) Finally, although it sounds obvious, the meeting proved that corruption is not something that we can each fight alone.
“We appreciate the IP project and see potential. We are only able to review about 2–3% of tenders and usually the problems are in the ones we don’t get to! This project promotes the idea that the general population can ask questions, get answers, work together.” Gediminas Golcevas, Chief Specialist, Public Procurement Office, Lithuania.
We need to build coalitions of like-minded people who can achieve great things together. This diverse group is showing me just what can be achieved with genuine commitment from all of society.
I now look forward to 2018 excited about how much further we can go together.
This blog post is based on work under the Integrity Pacts project, coordinated by Transparency International and 15 partners in 11 EU countries, with funding from the European Commission. For more information, have a look at the project website. If you need more information, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
