Leadership and Management in Engineering

The public works/engineering/construction sector has been identified as the most corrupt sector in the world. For a long time the industry had no concerted plan to attack the problem, but in the late 1990s several events happened that have given rise to the industry’s most far-reaching effort to address corruption. Efforts are underway by world governments, engineering/construction organizations, and individuals to combat corruption and conduct business in an honest, transparent, and fair manner. In this article we discuss the magnitude of corruption in the industry, describe the most common types of corruption, identify actions being taken to eliminate corruption in the industry, and explain what individuals can do to address the problem.

Corruption in the construction/engineering sector across the world has taken a high toll including lost lives, financial losses, diverted resources, and destruction of the environment. In 2003, Transparency International concluded there was a need for development and implementation of anticorruption actions that addressed both the supply and demand sides of the corruption issue. Since then, Transparency International has produced a suite of tools and reports as well as a project anticorruption system that includes standards and templates to assist project participants. It continues to work with national, regional, and international construction and engineering professional institutions and business associations to promote anticorruption measures.

The United Kingdom (U.K.) Anticorruption Forum was formed in 2004 to create a business environment that is free from corruption, giving rise to fair competition. The Forum has published an Anticorruption Action Statement; holds quarterly meetings; and publishes a quarterly newsletter, which is circulated to numerous stakeholders worldwide and provides an update on the Forum’s activities and on significant U.K. and international corruption issues. The Forum has also published a number of discussion papers, holds conferences and workshops, meets regularly with government and other stakeholders, and has formed a number of working groups to develop and promote Forum policy in specific areas.

A zero-tolerance policy for corruption is increasingly being adopted by companies, governments, project owners, and funders. The concern for these stakeholders is no longer whether they should seek to eliminate corruption in their organizations, projects, or business dealings, but how to do so. The Global Infrastructure Anticorruption Centre (GIACC) was founded to promote the implementation of anticorruption measures as an integral part of government, corporate, and project management. GIACC provides resources and services for use by all stakeholders for the purpose of preventing corruption in the infrastructure, construction, and engineering sectors. One comprehensive project management resource is the Project Anticorruption System. The GIACC Advisory Council is looking at strategies to increase effectiveness for the organization.

The Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI) was organized in 2005 and has gained global recognition as one of the world’s foremost anticorruption forces. The sole focus of PACI is to establish multi-industry principles and practices that create a competitive, level playing field based on integrity, fairness, and ethical conduct. Because PACI is an action-oriented initiative, member organizations have access to useful information and an array of proactive services including practical tips and best practices, semiannual task force meetings, and a variety of communications materials. A suite of training tools is currently being developed to help companies reduce their exposure to corruption.

We discuss the efforts over the last $10\text{years}$ of the International Federation of Consulting Engineers (FIDIC) to fight corruption in the construction industry. We describe the Business Integrity Management System, which was developed by the industry to manage the integrity of a consulting firm, and a parallel system (Government Procurement Integrity System) to manage the integrity of a government procurement department. FIDIC suggests that the industry cannot achieve a successful outcome in this effort to fight corruption without the inclusion of all of the participants including the clients, the financial community, and the government.

The World Justice Project (WJP) was founded to show that the work of all disciplines depends on the rule of law and to engage representatives of various disciplines in efforts to advance the rule of law worldwide. The WJP has conducted several programs including outreach meetings, scholarship programs, and an index to assess countries’ adherence to the rule of law. A World Justice Forum was held in 2008 and planning has begun for a second round of multidisciplinary programs.

The Australian building and construction industry has experienced its share of bad and anti-competitive practices, especially related to industrial and workplace practices and to occupational health and safety. As a result, the commonwealth (federal) and state governments agreed in the early 1990s to adopt a National Code of Practice for the Construction Industry to establish a set of principles and standards of behavior that would apply to all dealings between clients, their representatives, and members of the construction industry. The code applies to construction activity and building refurbishments and extends to clients, head contractors, subcontractors, project managers, consultants, material suppliers, and trade unions. All parties wishing to do business with governments or work on government construction projects must be compliant with the code. Sanctions may be imposed where a party fails to meet its code obligations and sanctions may range from a warning to preclusion from bidding on government work for up to six months. The code has set clear and firmly enforced ground rules regarding expected behavior and standards on construction projects and appears to have been successful, with measurable decreases in unacceptable practices such as collusive tendering and increases in productivity for the industry as a whole.

Technology can improve lives; however, the aggregate value of technology is a clear advantage for the more developed economies due to their abilities to incur the high cost of investing in innovation. Only a better understanding among all nations will improve the balance of living and finances of the world. Corruption is often the major obstacle to effective technology transfer. The Pan American Federation of Engineering Societies was formed to give a united voice to the national engineering associations in the Americas. Addressing corruption in the engineering/construction industry is imbedded in several of the organization’s goals and the Federation’s new program is the establishment of an Anticorruption Task Force.

The Global Anticorruption Education and Training Project (ACET) was conceived, developed, and implemented to assist the poor and underprivileged in all countries of the world. The centerpiece of the ACET effort is the movie Ethicana. The final education and training products, installed on a commercially produced DVD, will contain the movie subtitled in 28 languages, a training guide, a train-the-trainer kit, and numerous other training materials designed to reduce corruption. The intent of ACET is to provide these products free of charge throughout the world in a concerted effort to reduce corruption in the engineering/construction industry.

The ASCE Committee of Global Principles for Professional Conduct was formed to address corruption in the global engineering/construction industry. Among it’s many activities, the committee has brought anticorruption topics to ASCE annual meeting programs, developed policy statement 510 entitled “Combating Corruption,” developed an Engineer’s Charter, worked with other committees and groups to develop anticorruption education and training materials, and in general brought the topic of corruption in the engineering/construction industry to the forefront of discussions.