<< Talks

Integrity in the Netherlands
FIDIC D&S 2002
Freek Hasselaar, ONRI

Why now: hot issue in media & politics

o Integrity is a hot issue in the Netherlands
o Public inquiry by commission of parliament
o Much media attention
o Focussed on the public market of construction
o Focussed on contractors, and then suppliers
o Also accountants some "image damage"
o Consulting engineers low profile, so far…
o Much is still to be proven…., but the world has changed

What was wrong

o cartels : illegal organising the projects (who's doing what project)
o sophisticated systems of illegal price- agreements between contractors (especially about costs of making proposals
o cartels of suppliers of sand, asphalt, etc
o bribery of clients
o even accountants in discussion (did'nt they see anything?? Or is it not their task??)
o consultanting engineers "low profile in the media/ political picture" (so far...)
o Start of a national discussion about ethics and "international business".

What did ONRI do

o Strategy of low profile in media
o Survey member firms of ONRI
o Survey (benchmark) of MA's of EFCA
o New ONRI-brochure on ethics
o Discussion about updating the system, and promoting integrity management by member firms, dialogue with stakeholders
o Dialogue with stakeholders about the future: not more rules, but innovative procurement & contracting

What do the member firms of ONRI want / think

o high respons, representative
o ONRI code of conduct is well known
o member firms accept current system of ONRI
o no urge of updating the system
o 40% of member firms has own code of conduct
o communication by ONRI about integrity is important
o Low support for promoting integritymanagement within firms by ONRI, support for documents&discussion meetings
o member firms strongly support sanctions by ONRI
o member firms support action and investigation by ONRI in case of potential misconduct
o member firms support and promote the option of complaints about collegues
o discussion about the key-word: independance or integrity

What about other European MA's

Goal of the survey: " to investigate MA's experiences and share knowledge on integrity management in order to strengthen the sectors imago/ profile"
o 19 out of 24 countries participated
o 17 out of 19 have code of conduct
o 12 out of 17 are entirely or mainly based on fidic code of conduct
o 13 out of 19 have a committee on ethics
o 13 out of 19 have a committee for complaints
o there are different types of sanctions
o there is growing attention within the MA's to support member firms by documentation, and/ or discussion meetings
o there is some support for active external communication by MA's on this subject
o there is very little dialogue with stakeholders on this issue
o there are big differences between systems of investigation with potential and current member firms
o there is no consensus on the effect on integritymanagement of member firms by the size of the member firm, or by the role they play in the supply chain

What are key questions

o Members of ONRI: Only Independant consultancy, and or turnkey and or BFOT, etc, and/ or contracting and/or operation within member firms?
o How to deal with conflict of interests
o How active (frequence, depth of inquiry, etc) , should be the preventive control of member firms by ONRI
o Code of conduct per firm obligatory for members?
o Should ONRI facilitate or promote or demand integrity management with member firms? And if yes, how to control it
o relation between integritymanagement and qualitysystem?
o Relation between integritymanagement and safety/ security?
o (Regular) meetings with stakeholders on their and/ or on our code of conduct?
o Commission of complaint: within ONRI or outside?
o Distinction between integrity and business in national market, and integrity in international business?
o Vision/ opinion of the sector about "black lists of clients"?
o Does integrity pay off???? Is it a U.S.P. for the sector ??? Should it be?
o Relation with sustainability, social codes of conduct etc??

Finally:
I am so sorry:

I have more questions than answers

There is a lot of work to do for MA's & firms

But it pays off!