The first integrity pact (IP) in Poland was implemented in the context of the EU-wide programme “Integrity Pacts EU: Civil Control Mechanisms to Safeguard EU Funds”. The objective of the monitored contracting project, worth €109 million and managed by the state-owned company Polish Railways, was to carry out construction works to modernise 44 km of a railway section in southern Poland.

After lengthy negotiations, in late 2016, the contracting authority signed an agreement with Stefan Batory Foundation (SBF). The IP had a hybrid format comprising three different modules. Module I consisted of a monitoring agreement between SBF and Polish Railways, module II was a clause embedded in the draft contract spelling out the contractor’s commitments and requirements, and module III, also a clause in the draft contract, contained provisions to ensure regular communication and exchange of information with the contract engineer.

The IP consisted of integrity pledges for contracting authorities (CAs), bidders and contractors, as well as provisions and procedures for access to information and participation in tender committee meetings by the monitor. It also contained obligations for bidders and contractors to disclose potential conflicts of interest, file no-collusion statements, and a requirement to establish whistle-blower protection policies (this also applied to sub-contractors). The IP did not include any sanctions for breaches but spelt out clear procedures in case of identified conflicts of interest, irregularities or fraud.

To carry out the monitoring, SBF assembled a team of in-house staff and external experts in law, construction, and railways. In the tender award phase, the monitor identified a potential conflict of interest in which a senior official of the contracting authority was a relative of a chief designer of the winning bidder. This, however, was already disclosed upon submission of bids, and after the monitor flagged it, they received assurances that enhanced control measures would be applied to avoid problems.

In the contract implementation phase, a dispute arose between the contracting authority and the contractor due to a huge increase in the prices of materials and services to be used for the work, which could not be balanced due to inadequate contractual provisions for inflation adjustment. While the monitor could not prevent parties from taking legal action to solve the dispute, it provided a comprehensive assessment of how the problem highlighted systemic problems in the purchasing policy of the state that should be urgently solved. The contracting authority updated the templates for future contracts to provide more space for potential price changes.

The monitor also noted that construction works started without a building permit, based only on notification by the contractor. While this had little consequences for the contract at hand, the monitor alerted relevant ministries about the problem and submitted suggestions for reform. Eventually, these contributed to amendments to the Construction Law that streamlined the requirements relating to construction work by notification.

The IP had other benefits beyond the contracting procedure. As part of Module II of the IP, SBF has provided a template for a comprehensive whistle-blower protection system to the contractor. While company representatives initially feared this would lead to complaints of additional administrative burden, this wasn’t the case. The contractor did establish the system, and, throughout the project, it was further developed into a compliance management system which continues to run to this day.

As a result of the monitor’s work, construction-related legislation also changed and strengthened transparency provisions for issuing construction permits. And to enhance control of construction projects, the government dedicated additional funds to architectural supervisory bodies in the 2021-2027 EU budget.

Apart from monitoring, SBF carried out relevant communication and awareness-raising activities. These included the development of a website that allowed the public to follow the monitoring process step by step, access key non-confidential documents, and report irregularities, as well as several open events, podcasts, townhall meetings, collaborations with specialised magazines, graphic materials, and publications on issues of infrastructure governance in Poland.

A comprehensive report published by SBF in December 2021 summarises the pilot's results, demonstrating a place for the integrity pact in the Polish legal system and outlines a number of recommendations for streamlining and improving the tool in future applications. Specifically, SBF calls on the government to:

• Provide a legal basis for the integrity pact by amending relevant regulations to include its definition and objectives, guidelines for its strategic implementation by specific institutions, as well as a description of the implementation process and the rights and obligations of the parties.
• Expand the range of potential actors that could monitor contracting procedures to include specialised entities, for example, universities, research institutes and private consulting companies, on the condition that these have formal agreements with or lines of accountability to civil society (organisations).
• Provide guidance for funding the regular implementation of the IPs, for example, by employing public funds of institutions overseeing CAs (such as Managing Authorities for EU funds), or CAs’ own funds, provided that guarantees for the independence of the monitor are defined in relevant regulations.