Bring on Integrity Pact

THE DEPTH and pervasiveness of corruption revealed in the $1.6 billion Airport Development Project is so outrageous that it cries out for justice. Satisfactory closure of this scandalous project will never be achieved unless and until the necessary measures are taken to bring to justice those who have calculatingly and systematically milked millions of public funds from it. But after that what? What assurance does the public have that such a scandal will not, indeed cannot, occur again.

Moreover, is there an accepted procedure or system which can be introduced here to ensure not only that the process of awarding major contracts is corruption-proof but also that taxpayers will get optimum value for their money in these transactions? In regard to this question, the Trinidad and Tobago Transparency Institute (TTTI) offers quite a worthwhile answer.

According to a paper issued by TTTI chairman, Boyd Reid, we can begin to implement in the award of public contracts the Integrity Pact (IP) which has been developed by Transparency International and used to good effect in such countries as Colombia, Ecuador, Italy, Korea, Pakistan and Nepal. The IP is a legal agreement between a public authority, such as a government agency or state-owned enterprise, and all the bidders for a public contract of any type, used to prevent corruption throughout the whole contracting process. Mr Reid gave an example of IP's successful operation in Argentina. "In May, 2000, the municipality of Moron, a suburb of Buenos Aires, put out for tender a four-year garbage collection contract estimated to be worth US$48 million. After a public hearing on the bidding documents and the terms of the contract, attended by more than 500 people, the estimated cost was cut by 30 percent.
 
"Ten days after the hearing, the municipality published the final bidding documents on its internet website, explaining which of the participants' observations and suggestions it had accepted or rejected and why. Then the municipality and the four prequalified bidders (one foreign, three local) together signed the Pact. "Each bidder affirmed that it had not paid, and would not pay, any bribes in order to obtain or retain the contract. "Each bidder further undertook to disclose all payments made in connection with the contract and to report any violations by other tenderers during the bidding, and by the winner during contract execution. "The municipality undertook that its officials would not demand or accept any bribes and agreed to enforce appropriate disciplinary or criminal sanctions in case of violation. "All agreed to public disclosure of the award, of the major elements of the evaluation and of the reasons for selecting the successful bidder. Bidders agreed to sanctions for violation of the Pact, including damages payable to the municipality of 10 percent of the contract value and blacklisting for five years.

"Any conflict was to be resolved by national arbitration. The Argentinian chapter of Transparency International was appointed to monitor the bid evaluation, the award decision process and the implementation of the contract. "About one year later, an independent opinion poll revealed that 80 percent of the citizens of Moron were satisfied with the refuse collection service." Our view is that the Integrity Pact as designed by Transparency International is a sure-fire way of ensuring integrity in the award of contracts. If it has achieved this success in so many developing countries why can't it do the same in TT? In light of the venality that marked the Piarco Development, we would urge our Government to consider seriously the introduction of the Pact here, either wholly or in most of its relevant parts.