Detailed Information :

Latvia

Year of Establishment: 2005

Project Phase: Completed

Participants: Construction Companies, Ministry of Culture, Transparency International (TI)

Scope:

• The Ministry of Culture and Transparency International signed an Integrity Pact for the construction of three modern cultural facilities ( New Three Brothers) in Latvia: 1. Latvian National Library 2. Acoustic Concert Hall 3. Museum of Contemporary Art.

Key Facts:

Description

• In 2005, the Latvian Government planned the construction of three modern cultural facilities (New ’Three Brothers’)
• To ensure full transparency during the bidding and implementation process, an Integrity Pact was signed between the Ministry of Culture and TI Latvia
• Any participating contractor/applicant had to sign an anti-corruption declaration and code of ethics
• TI Latvia was appointed as an independent monitor to guarantee that public money was spent in a transparent way.

Objectives

• Ensure full transparency in all procedures related to the project
• Create effective anti-corruption mechanisms for political and administrative procedures of project, including educational and informative activities.

Key Learnings:

• This example shows that the Integrity Pact concept can also be applied on an ongoing basis to a sequence of individual tenders for various parts of a construction project.
• Governments are willing to support Integrity Pacts, especially for projects with high public awareness.

Graph of stakeholder relationship:

Mechanisms:

• Cost: Each party covered its own costs (including TI Latvia – to guarantee its independence).
• Role of Monitor:
• TI was the external monitor
• TI had access to all documents related to the project
• TI had to give all involved parties an opportunity to mend any irregularities before informing the public
• TI produced public reports on progress of implementation of Integrity Pacts.

Benefits:

• For the Ministry of Culture: Enhanced credibility of public authorities by showing commitment to open processes.
• For TI Latvia: Anti-corruption practices were disseminated.
• For the overall business environment: Framework for fair competition was provided.

Links:

Click here for more information (In Latvian)
Integrity Pact between TI Latvia and the Ministry of Culture about the construction of a new national library, Transparency International 2005

Source:

• Interview with Stakeholders