Partisan Procurement. Contracting with the United States Federal Government

Dahlström, C., Fazekas, M, & Lewis, D. E., (2020), Partisan Procurement. Contracting with the United States Federal Government, 2003–2015, American Journal of Political Science. Available online: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ajps.12574

The U.S. federal government spends huge sums buying goods and services from outside of the public sector. Given the sums involved, strategic government purchasing can have electoral consequences. In this article, we suggest that more politicized agencies show favoritism to businesses in key electoral constituencies and to firms connected to political parties. We …

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Defence Elvis Visualization Tool

Defence Elvis

Defence Elvis is a network visualization tool for defence procurement contracts.

This visualization tool works with defence procurement data from all 28 EU countries. Data is visualized into a node network graph with possible restrictions to specific countries, years, tender suppliers and government institutions.

It is built on Elvis, the online tool which visualizes public spending as interactive network graphs. We added extra features and data to make it more effective in analysing the defence sector, where transparency …

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Quantifying the Effects of Corruption on the Water and Sanitation Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean

Adam, I., Fazekas, M., Regös, N. and Tóth, B. (2020). Quantifying the Effects of Corruption on the Water and Sanitation Sector in Latin America and the Caribbean. Technocal Note No IDB-TN-02055. Inter-American Development Bank, Washington, DC.

The importance of transparency and governance as determinants of efficiency, effectiveness, and quality of service undoubtedly occupy a key place among the most relevant lessons learned from the reforms implemented in the Water and Sanitation sector (W&S) in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) …

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Modelling Reform Strategies for Open Contracting in Low and Middle Income Countries

Adam, I., Dávid Barrett, E., and Fazekas, M. (2020). Modelling Reform Strategies for Open Contracting in Low and Middle Income Countries. Transparency International, London, UK.

This report aims to evaluate the effectiveness and fit of open contracting reforms to LMIC contexts and to provide recommendations on how and when countries should pursue open contracting reforms. This objective was broken down into the following questions on reform outcomes and reform drivers.

  • How advanced and comprehensive is the legal framework for open
…

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State Capture and Defence Procurement in the EU

Czibik, Á., Fazekas, M., Hernandez Sanchez, A. and Wachs, J. (2020). State Capture and Defence Procurement in the EU. GTI-WP/2020:05, Budapest: Government Transparency Institute.

This paper is part of a broader research project which aims to assess state capture risks in the field of defence procurement using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to overcome research challenges typical of this area, most of all the relatively low level of transparency due to specific procurement regulations. In this paper, we …

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Controlling Corruption in Development Aid: New Evidence from Contract-Level Data

Dávid-Barrett, E., Fazekas, M., Hellmann, O., Márk, L. and McCorley, C. (2020). Controlling Corruption in Development Aid: New Evidence from Contract-Level Data. Studies in Comparative International Development.

Following scandals about corruption in foreign aid, and in a political climate that increasingly questions the legitimacy of development assistance, donors are under pressure to better control how their funds are spent. However, there is little evidence on precisely how to control corruption in development aid. This article assesses under which conditions donor …

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Water and Sanitation Sector Integrity Risk Index

Fazekas, M., Allakulov , U., Hernandez Sanchez, A. (2020). Water and Sanitation Sector Integrity Risk Index. GTI-WP/2020:04, Budapest: Government Transparency Institute.

We employ a data-driven approach to develop a composite Water Integrity Risk Index (WIRI) made up of a host of objective proxy indicators as well as survey-based measures of corruption experience to identify and assess integrity risks in the urban water and sanitation sector in selected settlements around the world. Unlike broader-scope corruption indices, the WIRI outlined in this …

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Public-private relationships in defence procurement in the EU: The case of the UK

Dr Resimić, M. (2019). Public-private relationships in defence procurement in the EU: The case of the UK. GTI-WP/2019:04, Budapest: Government Transparency Institute.

Defence procurement is sensitive to corruption and state capture risks, because the government enforces secrecy and awards high value contracts to firms in a market dominated by a few large players (Pyman, Wilson & Scott, 2009; Courtney, Cockcroft & Murray, 2002). Defence procurement in the UK has some additional risks considering that around 50% of its contracts are …

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Does the Defence Industry Capture the State in France?

Renon, E. (2019). Does the Defence Industry Capture the State in France? GTI-WP/2019:03, London, UK: Government Transparency Institute.

State capture is the disproportionate and unregulated influence of interest groups or companies, where they manage to bend state laws, policies and regulations by paying illicit contributions to political parties and for election campaigns, buy parliamentary votes, presidential decrees or court decisions, as well as through illegitimate lobbying and revolving door appointments. State capture can also arise from the more subtle close …

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GTI wins the IMF Anti-Corruption Challenge

The Government Transparency Institute and FCDO UK team has won the first place in the IMF Anti-Corruption Challenge with its project Public procurement corruption risks: Harnessing Big Data for better fiscal governance and growth. We also worked together with the IMF to deliver this innovative project.

See our presentation followed by a Q&A at the IMF Pitch Event

We developed an intelligence tool which uses big data analytics and peer-reviewed methods to identify corruption risks in micro-level public procurement processes …

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