Integrity pacts

Integrity Pacts are a tool for preventing corruption in public contracting. They are essentially an agreement between the government agency offering a contract and the companies bidding for it that they will abstain from bribery, collusion and other corrupt practices for the extent of the contract. 

For accountability purposes, a monitor (from civil society), with the support of experts where necessary for the contract in question, follows closely all stages of the procedure and the implementation of the contract, and signals any breaches or concerns to the parties. The monitor also prepares regular reports on the transparency and fairness of the process. These are made publicly available.

What are the main elements of an Integrity Pact?

An Integrity Pact is signed for a particular project between the contracting authority undertaking the project, the monitor and the bidders. The major elements are:

• An undertaking by the contracting authority that its officials will not demand or accept any bribes, gifts or payments of any kind and maintain appropriate disciplinary, civil or criminal sanctions in case of violation.
• A statement by each bidder that it has not paid, and will not pay, any bribes in order to obtain or retain the contract.
• An undertaking by each bidder to disclose all payments made in connection with the contract in question. 
• The explicit acceptance by each bidder that the commitments and obligations remain in force for the winning bidder until the contract has been fully executed.
• A set of sanctions for any violation by a bidder of its statements or undertakings, such as: denial or loss of contract; forfeiture of the bid or performance bond or other security; liability for damages to the contracting authority and the competing bidders and debarment of the violator by the contracting authority for an appropriate period of time.
• A mechanism for dispute resolution.
• The identification of an independent external expert monitor, who has wide-reaching rights and functions.

Are you a government official, member of the private sector, or civil society organization interested in partnering with us to implement an integrity pact? Contact us!

TI-Croatia is currently involved in the Transparency International and European Commission joint-project, “Integrity Pacts - civil control mechanism for safeguarding EU funds against fraud and corruption." Learn more by clicking here.

Pictured: Transparency International Deputy Managing Director Miklos Marschall shaking hands with Corina Creţu, Member of the EC in charge of Regional Policy, at a meeting discussing the TI-EC joint-project on Integrity Pacts. © European Union, 2015