Integrity Pacts: The European Perspective

The European Commission teamed up with Transparency International to pilot the use of Integrity Pacts.

In essence, an Integrity Pact is an agreement with the public authorities that allows civil society to act as independent monitors of the procurement process.

Why is the European Commission supporting the use of Integrity Pacts to EU-funded projects?

Preventing and fighting corrupt practices in projects funded by the EU has always been a priority for the Commission, as well as ensuring efficiency and effectiveness in public contracting. It’s a way to save taxpayers’ money and make sure projects run smoothly because the goal is to guarantee all spending on public contracting is free from corruption. This is why the Commission’s Directorate-General for Regional and Urban Policy and Transparency International joined forces in March 2015 and launched the pilot project ‘Integrity Pacts?—?Civil Control Mechanism for Safeguarding EU Funds’ to explore and promote the use of Integrity Pacts (IP) for safeguarding EU funds.

The commission’s expectation is that the Integrity Pact approach will show that ordinary citizens and their champions?—?civil society organizations?—?can play an important role in monitoring both the allocation of funds for projects and the way that money is spent. Clearly, if the contracting authority has planned the tenders well, an Integrity Pact can also bring costs savings because of improved competition.

Why is public procurement a priority for the European Commission and for EU investments in general?

Through the European Structural and Investment Funds for 2014–2020, the EU is investing EUR 454 billion overall in Europe’s Member States and regions to promote economic growth, job creation, and competitiveness and to invest more in regions that have received less support. Almost half of this investment is channeled through public procurement. Improving the quality and transparency of public procurement will mean better results and more benefits for businesses and citizens.

The commission has adopted and is implementing an Action Plan on Public Procurement. The goal is to identify good practices and promote them among Member States as well as to help them use public tendering in a more strategic way. The commission’s objective is to make sure that public procurement helps in achieving objectives like environment protection and social inclusion, and improves the digital economy and society.

What is the value of civil society involvement in public procurement?

The role of civil society as an effective anticorruption actor is important. It contributes to holding government to account. Transparency International’s long experience in combating corruption has shown the crucial contribution of transparency, accountability and greater efficiency, especially in the particularly sensitive area of public procurement.

Within the next five years, most likely, we will see a totally different public procurement landscape?—? everything will be electronic and much more data should be openly available. Trends such as open contracting are offering new opportunities to scrutinize public spending. But public procurement is a very complex matter and not necessarily understood by average citizens. Open data gives us a lot of opportunities, but if you don’t understand it, it is of no use.

Civil society organizations have the necessary skills to translate data and make the process more understandable to citizens while ensuring monitoring and civic control. Beyond this, civil society involvement is one of the best ways towards greater public engagement and understanding of public policies and, in particular, public procurement.

Can Integrity Pacts be introduced in the Philippines?

Of course! The Integrity Initiativeis presently introducing ‘Open Procurement’ as a test in Muntinlupa City; Mayor Fresnedi is our partner. The test project involves the ‘Integrity Circle’, composed of business and civil society.

Everybody understands that Integrity Pacts promote transparency and cost efficiency as well as good governance. They also have the potential to reduce costs and increase competition, which of course is vital for business.

Integrity Pacts can encourage institutional changes, such as the increased use of e-procurement systems, simplified administrative procedures, improvements of regulatory environment.

Trusting that the test in Muntinlupa will be successful, Integrity Pacts / Open Procurement will be cascaded to other LGUs in the Philippines.

Comments are welcome; contact Schumacher@ integrityinitiative.com