In 2015, the Anti-Corruption Organisation of Thailand and the Thai Institute of Directors led successful advocacy efforts to integrate the integrity pact (IP) into the draft procurement law. At the time, the Thai government was reforming several laws and policies that regulate the interactions between the public and private sectors, particularly in public procurement and public construction.

According to Thai law, the integrity pact is an agreement between a government agency or procuring entity and all bidders for a public sector contract, in which both parties refrain from corruption and collusion and allow an independent observer to monitor the process. In addition, contracting authorities also commit to disclose online all information and documents related to the procurement and to provide opportunities for affected communities and the public to engage in the process.

The observer, who should be a person with relevant experience in the subject matter of the contract and no conflict of interest in the process, oversees IP implementation and monitors every step of the process. In case of suspected corruption or irregularities, they must first ask the contracting authority for clarifications. If the response is not deemed adequate, they must refer the case to relevant anti-corruption bodies for further investigation.

At the end of the process, the observer submits a final report with its recommendations to the Anti-Corruption Cooperation Committee, a body coordinated by the Comptroller General’s Department and including representatives from the private sector and civil society. The committee’s main tasks are to monitor and assess the implementation of IPs and appoint independent observers to specific procurement projects. They must review every high-value procurement of over 1 billion Thai baht (approximately US$30 million) and decide whether the IP shall be applied to that project.

As of 2020, integrity pacts (IPs) in Thailand had been applied to 106 procurement projects for a combined value of 18.103 trillion Thai baht (US$490 billion). Until then, 53 projects with a total value of 160.201 billion Thai baht (US$4.3 billion) were completed, and the IPs were estimated to have generated savings for a total of 73.047 billion Thai baht (US$1.9 billion) as a result of independent observers’ recommendations regarding prices and specifications versus those proposed by entrepreneurs. Available data indicate that the bid price was between 14-28 per cent lower than the estimated budget in procurement projects where the IPs have been applied.

Research also shows that using IPs in Thailand proved to be an effective means for ensuring citizen engagement for public accountability and anti-corruption in public procurement. At the same time, it also highlights some key challenges that will have to be resolved in the future, including the politicisation of some of the observers (most of whom come from academia and the private sector), their exclusion from the Terms of Reference drafting, and misconceptions of public officials about the monitoring mechanism.

As the Thai government expects to see approximately US$127.4 billion dedicated to mega-projects in the next two decades, with 97 per cent of them for transport and power supply, we can expect that the integrity pacts will gain even more relevance in future policies of the country.