PROJECT DURATION: 01.06.2023-30.11.2025
PROJECT COST: EUR 189,359.77
FINANCING: European Union (Recovery Fund)
CONTACT PERSON: Jēkabs Kārlis Rasnačs
RELEVANCE
In Latvia, the volume of public procurement for one year is approximately 3.3 billion euros – a third of the state budget. It is the local governments that have significant funds at their disposal, which they spend on public procurement. For this reason, it is important to be aware of the risks associated with public procurement.
Open, responsible supervision, when implementing the use of funds, can become one of the solutions that would allow Latvia to reduce social and economic inequality, as well as improve trust in state and local government institutions – including the state administration as a whole. Publication of information and openness are essential elements when thinking about how to prevent corruption risks and promote citizens’ involvement both in the assessment of corruption risks and in the monitoring of public spending.
One of the methods to ensure the monitoring and observance of public interests regarding the use of foreign investments and state budget funding is the Integrity Pact, an instrument developed and tested in practice by Transparency International and its branch in Latvia – Delna.
The Integrity Pact is a mechanism that allows one public institution or a group of such institutions to cooperate with non-governmental organizations and civil society in order to ensure that the governing body and applicants comply with the restrictions on the prevention of conflicts of interest set by legislation, reduce the risks of corruption and promote public trust in the relevant public procurement project . By cooperating within the framework of the integrity pact, the parties involved undertake to refrain from corrupt behavior, as well as promote openness and transparency throughout the process.
In Latvia, the introduction of integrity pacts as a method is foreseen in the “Administrative capacity road map, for achieving the objectives of the EU Cohesion Policy in the period 2021-2027” (State Chancellery, School of State Administration, 2022). As one of the strategic priorities in this road map, the strengthening of the institutions’ performance or capacity is determined, and to ensure this, one of the planned activities is the development of integrity pact standards for the state administration with the aim of public participation in the transparent and legal monitoring of the implementation of EU fund projects. In order to fully achieve this goal, it is also necessary to build and strengthen the capacity of the other party – non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, so that when the public sector is ready to implement integrity pacts, the non-governmental sector is also ready to get involved and fulfill the important task of monitoring public procurement and investments , using integrity pacts.
PROJECT ACTIVITIES
The project organizations will carry out a pilot project of integrity pacts in the municipalities of Liepāja city and Ķekava region. Based on practical experience, informative and educational events will be organized for non-governmental organizations and municipal councils throughout Latvia, a manual and other materials will be developed on integrity pacts and fair public procurement and their monitoring. Representatives of the private sector, the wider public and the media will be informed about the opportunities for society to get involved in monitoring the use of public funds and its benefits. The project will be implemented in Riga, Liepāja, Ķekava. Materials and various events will be available online.
As a result of the project, the awareness of the media, anti-corruption supporters and the wider public will be raised about the possibilities of monitoring the use of public funds. Project implementers and their cooperation partners will learn the integrity pact tool and gain experience in how to monitor the use of public funding. Recommendations and information will be collected on how non-governmental organizations in Latvia can implement public interest monitoring in the use of foreign investments and state budget funding, as a result of which materials and a manual for the implementation of integrity pacts will be developed. The State Administration will receive recommendations, suggestions on how to successfully develop and implement integrity pacts.
The partners of the project are organizations from the municipality of Ogre region and the municipality of the state city of Liepāja:
- Ogres novada pilsoniskās sadarbības un attīstības biedrība
CONTACT INFORMATION: onpsab@gmail.com
- Biedrība “Radi Vidi Pats”
CONTACT INFORMATION: rvpliepaja@gmail.com
- Nodibinājums “Liepājas Novada fonds”
CONTACT INFORMATION: liepajasfonds@gmail.com
PROJECT PUBLICATIONS:
- Blog post “Review of the seminar-workshop “Municipal procurement – why is it important to be interested in it?””, 2025.
- News page on integrity pacts no. 7. (in Latvian)
- Second interim report in Liepāja (in Latvian), 2025.
- Second interim report in Ķekava (in Latvian), 2025.
- News page on integrity pacts no. 6. (in Latvian)
- News page on integrity pacts no. 5. (in Latvian)
- News page on integrity pacts no. 4. (in Latvian)
- Blog post (in Latvian) “A review of the event on September 12 “How will the green zone project affect the development of the Lauma neighborhood?“, 2024.
- Blog post (in English) “DELNA PARTICIPATES IN SEMINARS IN MOLDOVA ON PUBLIC PROCUREMENT TRANSPARENCY“, 2024. About participating in the seminars in Moldova “Public procurement system: transparency and efficiency”, where we shared experience with Latvia’s procurement monitoring experience, including using the integrity pact approach, and the impact of the EU accession process on public procurement practice.
- News page on integrity pacts no. 3. (in Latvian)
- The first interim report on the study of the procurement procedure in Liepāja (in Latvian), 2024.
- The first interim report on the monitoring agreement in Ķekava (in Latvian), 2024.
- Press release (in Latvian) “CIVIL ORGANISATIONS WILL MONITOR PUBLIC PROCUREMENTS IN LIEPĀJA AND ĶEKAVA“, 2024.
- Blog post (in Latvian) about the vote on public procurement and signing the integrity pact agreement, 2024.
- Blog post about an educational internal seminar (in Latvian) “PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AND PRICE SURVEYS: ACTUAL ISSUES AND DELNA EXPERIENCE“, 2024. Within the seminar, we especially draw the attention of partners to the first important steps in the organization of procurement in order to ensure excellent knowledge and promote quick judgment about possible shortcomings in the organization of procurement.
- News page on integrity pacts no. 2. (in Latvian)
- News page on integrity pacts no. 1. (in Latvian)
- Blog post about the educational seminar (in Latvian) “Why integrity pacts in the public procurement process are beneficial for both municipalities and entrepreneurs?“, 2024. Presentations were given by experts experienced in working with integrity pacts, highlighting both the Latvian and international perspective, as well as talking in more detail about the benefits for municipalities and entrepreneurs , entering into integrity pacts.
- Report (in Latvian) “Types of civil society monitoring: A Comparison with the Integrity Pact Approach“, 2023. The report explains the pros and cons of different types of civil oversight that can be used to monitor the use of public money.
- Research article (in Latvian) “MUNICIPAL PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AND “HIDDEN” PRICE SURVEYS“, 2023. The article explains the procedure and features of conducting price surveys in Latvian municipalities.
- Blog post (in Latvian) “ASSOCIATIONS IN LIEPĀJA AND OGRE WANT TO COOPERATE WITH THE MUNICIPALITY“, 2023.
Delna’s past experience in the application of the integrity pact method:
- From 2016 to 2020, the project “Integrity Pact – Monitoring of European Union Funds” was implemented, financed by the European Commission and managed by Transparency International. More detailed information is available here in Latvian ->
- From July 2022, Delna pro bono (without compensation) monitors the dismantling process of the monument “Soviet Army Soldiers – Liberators of Soviet Latvia and Riga from German Fascist Invaders” in Uzvara Park, Riga, using the integrity pact method, in order to promote compliance with the principles of good governance, corruption and vested interests. conflict prevention and honesty in the cooperation and work of the client, contractor and other involved parties. The interim report is available on Delna’s website in Latvian ->.
- In the fall of 2022, Delna, using the integrity pact method, on its own initiative and without compensation, got involved and analyzed the process of dismantling the occupation monument in Daugavpils. Delna’s goal was to make sure that the documents and the selection process of builders in Daugavpils were carried out in accordance with the requirements of the regulatory acts, were useful and honest. After the work carried out, Delna concluded that when organizing the dismantling of memorials to the Red Army soldiers and the monument to the soldiers of the 360th Rifle Division of the Red Army in the city of Daugavpils, the municipality of Daugavpils did not follow the principles of good management and transparency. Read more in Latvian->.
