Transcript Slide 1

Preventing conflict of
interest and corruption:
From policy to practice
Elodie Beth, Administrator,
OECD Public Governance and
Territorial Development Directorate
Global Forum V
Sandton, Gauteng, South Africa, 4 April 2007
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Integrity in the public service, why is it so
critical today?
Integrity has become a key factor in the quality of
governance
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Corruption distorts competition, risk-factor for the economy
Tolerating corruption leads to the loss of public confidence
Public management reforms have had unintended impacts:
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Limited resources -- require downsizing and restructuring
Increased commercialisation of the public service
Public expectations have increased
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Changing relationship between public servants and citizens
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A Framework for conflict of interest:
The OECD approach
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Identify emerging challenges - Conflicts of interests are a
critical risk for integrity
Provide policy advice – OECD Guidelines for Managing Conflict
of Interest in the Public Service, based on the review of country
experiences
Support implementation – Toolkit
Review of implementation – Measure progress made since the
2003 Guidelines
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Recent efforts in OECD countries to manage
conflict of interest
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OECD countries reviewed their conflict-of-interest policy
and practice in the last 3 years to verify adequacy of rules
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¾ of countries developed or updated conflict-of-interest
laws, codes of conduct, and implementing mechanisms
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Post-public employment and lobbying were identified as
emerging challenges
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From policy to practice:
Public procurement, a government activity at risk
Procurement
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The most vulnerable government activity to
corruption
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A major economic activity, equivalent to 15% of
GDP, where corruption has high impact on public
finances
How to prevent conflict of interest and possibly
corruption in public procurement?
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Prevention of conflict of interest in
procurement at the organisational level
Ensuring separation of duties and authorisations
at the organisational level
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Main challenge: Avoiding that “firewalls” result in a lack of coordination
Ensuring interaction between officials and
bidders to avoid bias
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Rotation of officials
Four-eyes principle
Role of new technologies (e.g. e-auctions)
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Ethical standards for procurement officials:
From design to implementation
Definition of integrity standards
A vast majority of OECD countries legislated integrity
standards across the whole public service, few developed
specific standards for procurement officials
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Application: What is the practice?
Ethical considerations are sometimes taken into account in
the recruitment
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Disclosure of relevant private interests
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Integrity trainings
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Post-public employment prohibitions
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Partnering with the private sector
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Verifying that bidders have a satisfactory record of integrity
(e.g. role of information systems, declaration of integrity by the
administration)
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Denying access to bidders
(e.g. disqualification for specific procurements, deletion from list
of bidders, disqualification not necessarily linked to
procurement)
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Voluntary steps for self-regulations by bidders
(e.g. sector agreements, company codes of ethics, guidelines,
etc.)
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Mutual commitments with business and non-governmental
organisations
(e.g. Integrity Pacts)
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
Recent publications:
- Integrity in Public Procurement: Good Practice
from A to Z
- Managing Conflict of Interest: Guidelines,
Country Experiences and Toolkit
- Public Sector Integrity: A Framework for
Assessment
Website:
http://www.oecd.org/gov/ethics
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