Swift, smart… and clean
The week in corruption, 1 May 2020
The chances are, you are reading this newsletter at home, under social distancing measures introduced to reduce the pressure on your country’s health system during the COVID-19 pandemic.
But while restrictions on public life have gone up, for very good reason, rules governing how governments spend money have been relaxed. The European Commission, for example, has accepted that EU Member States need to find “swift and smart solutions” for buying the equipment needed to tackle the crisis, with fewer controls and red tape.
Both measures — social distancing and emergency public procurement rules — are necessary for stopping hospitals becoming overwhelmed and vital supplies of medical equipment running out. Both are necessary for making sure that patients and healthcare professionals on the front lines of the pandemic have the equipment they need to get treatment and stay safe.
Fast and effective should not mean opaque and dirty.
Even under normal conditions, it is estimated that up to a quarter of the value of government contracts are lost to corruption.
During the COVID-19 crisis, we’ve already seen examples from around the world of people with close ties to politicians benefiting from government contracts, and we’ve seen desperately needed resources wasted on poor-quality products and suspicious deals.
It doesn’t have to be like this. A centralised, public platform listing how public money is being spent to tackle the pandemic would help increase accountability and deter those seeking to take criminal advantage of the crisis.
Using govenment data, Transparency International Portugal has created a new online platform that allows the public, journalists and civil society organisations to track coronavirus-related public spending in real time.
There are also other solutions. In Honduras, Transparency International is monitoring the purchase of medical supplies thanks to a long-running Integrity Pact — a legally binding document between a government agency, private sector bidders and a civil society monitor. In partnership with the European Commission, we have also been piloting Integrity Pacts in 11 EU countries since 2016.
Check out Procuring for Life, our new two-part series on how clean contracting can save lives during the coronavirus pandemic.
What do you think? Let us know @anticorruption.
Procuring for Life
Introduction: Transparent public procurement is critical to saving lives and livelihoods
As the rapid spread of the pandemic continues around the world with devastating effects, the growing crisis brings two issues into clear focus: the importance of government action in the emergency response and the essential and often lifesaving role of public procurement.
First response: Procure medical supplies at any cost (and risk)
In order to speed up the purchasing times of vital medical supplies and equipment, contracting authorities are using existing framework agreements with suppliers to expedite delivery. But given the unprecedented scale of the crisis, this alone is not enough.
Where do we go from here to stop the pandemic?
The procurement risks in the upcoming months are hard to predict. But if data on public contracting during the pandemic is captured correctly and made publicly available in a timely way, it will allow to monitor the use of funds and prevent unnecessary loss of life due to corruption.
News from Transparency International
Try our new website (beta)
We’re getting ready to launch our new website and would love your feedback! You can use the red ‘Feedback’ button to send your comments and suggestions.
Brazil: Institutions and society must act to save democracy and the fight against corruption
Last Friday, Brazil suffered a serious institutional setback in its fight against corruption and yet another authoritarian move against its democratic regime. Society and institutions must react firmly to contain the abuses of the current government.
Mongolia: Criminalisation of defamation is another disturbing attack on media freedom
Transparency International and ARTICLE 19 have called on the Mongolian government to take urgent legislative action to address an increasingly dangerous environment for independent media in the country.
New on Voices for Transparency
Turning the tide of corruption in the DRC
People are starting to challenge the bribery that’s commonplace in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s police force, writes our colleague Maurice Kiala.
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