The Integrity Agreement is a tool for preventing corruption in public procurement. It is an agreement between the government agencies that offer the contract and the companies that are competing to refrain from bribery, collusion and other corrupt practices that would try to find out more information about the terms of the tender and the content of the contract.
Due to the need for accountability and transparency, the controller (from civil society) with the support of experts, when it comes to the contract, closely follows all stages of the procedure and implementation, and informs the parties if there has been a breach of the contract. The controller also prepares regular reports on the transparency and fairness of the process. Such data are publicly available.
What are the main elements of the Integrity Agreement?
An integrity agreement is signed in the case of a specific project between the client leading the project, the controller and the tenderer. The main elements are:
- The Entity must guarantee that its officers will not solicit or accept bribes, gifts or payment of any kind, and that in case of violation, they will implement appropriate sanctions (disciplinary, civil or criminal).
- A statement by each tenderer that he has not paid, nor will he pay, a bribe in order to obtain or retain the contract.
- Obligation of each bidder to transparently disclose all payments related to the contract.
- That the obligations remain in force for the most favorable bidder until the execution of the contract. Each bidder must accept this.
- Sanctions in case of violation by the bidder. Sanctions can be: denial or loss of contract; withdrawal from the offer, performance of obligations or other security; responsibility for damage caused to the ordering party and the specific bidder, and exclusion of the violator by the ordering party for a certain period of time.
- Dispute resolution mechanism.
- Identification of an independent external controller, whose rights and functions have a wide reach.
If you are a civil servant, a member of the private sector, or a civil society organization interested in the implementation of the Integrity Agreement, contact us!
TI Croatia is currently cooperating with the TI Secretariat and the European Commission on a joint project called “Integrity Agreement – state control mechanism for safeguarding EU funds against fraud and corruption.” Find out more here.
In the picture: TI Deputy Director Miklos Marschall shakes hands with Corina Cretu, the member of the European Commission in charge of regional policy. At the meeting, they discussed the joint TI-EK project “Integrity Agreement.” © European Union, 2015
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