Romania’s first four integrity pacts (IPs) were implemented in the context of the EU-wide programme “Integrity Pacts EU: Civil Control Mechanisms to Safeguard EU Funds”. These were applied to public contracting projects in the fields of land administration, education, cultural heritage, and administrative capacity.

All four IPs followed the same model, with integrity commitments for contracting authorities and bidders, rights for the independent monitor to access information and documents related to the project, and procedures to report and resolve irregularities during the pre-tendering phase, the tendering phase and contract implementation. Notably, as Romanian legislation does not allow for external actors to participate in procurement evaluation committees’ meetings, the independent monitors could only monitor the awarding phase after the fact, based on the minutes of the meetings. IP signature by bidders was voluntary.

In the field of land administration, Transparency International Romania and the Institute for Public Policy (IPP) signed an IP with the National Agency of Cadastre and Land Registration in 2017 to oversee the procurement for the provision of technical assistance to increase land registration in 660 territorial administrative units. Due to the high complexity of the project, which entails signing 600 different contracts with private firms specialised in this area, the monitor decided to focus only on seven procedures to provide a blueprint of good practice that the contracting authority (CA) could follow with the others.

The monitoring work had benefits across all stages of the process. In the planning and pre-tendering phase, the monitor contributed to the inclusion of better selection criteria in the tendering documents and penalties for delays in implementation in the draft contract. Moreover, observing low participation in the tenders and a lack of interest from companies, the monitor helped the CA carry out a comprehensive market consultation that resulted in a marked increase in the number of bidders.

The IP also had benefits in the tendering and awarding phase, made particularly sensitive by the high risk of conflict of interest and revolving doors among land administration officials and private firms working in the field. To mitigate these risks, the monitors recruited an investigative journalist to check the bidders’ and public officials’ backgrounds for potential cases of favouritism. In addition, as land registration in Romania is subject to the approval of local mayors, the monitors participated in meetings between these and the cadastre agency to protect the process from political biases.

In the education sector, TI Romania and the IPP signed an IP with the Ministry of Education in 2017 to monitor the development of a digital platform to collect and manage information on test scores and grades in schools across the country. The monitors, whose staff had expertise in education, helped improve the procurement planning and pre-tendering process by carrying out an independent assessment of the project relevance, as well as consultation meetings with beneficiaries, which resulted in the inclusion of their concerns in the tender documentation.

In the field of cultural heritage, TI Romania and the IPP agreed with the Ministry of Culture to monitor a procurement project for the digitalisation of Romanian cultural items and the development of an online catalogue to grant public access to them. As part of the monitoring activities, which began in 2017, the monitors helped revise potentially restrictive and ambiguous terms of reference in the tender. In the implementation phase, the monitors helped smooth disagreements regarding the quality of the work, ensuring a no-cost extension to complete the project.

In the public sector administrative capacity field, the Romanian Academic Society (RAS) signed an IP with the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration to monitor the design and implementation of three framework agreements for information, communication, and publicity services to improve the administration of EU funds. As part of the monitoring activities, which began in 2017, RAS carried out training on transparency and integrity for contractors and supported them in drafting an internal integrity strategy.

According to TI Romania, the pilot implementation of IPs in Romania had very positive results and made the prospects of future projects promising. Nevertheless, some issues still prevent the IPs from achieving maximum impact.

Apart from legal obstacles for independent monitors to participate in procurement evaluation committees’ meetings, another relevant problem is the “legalistic” culture of Romania’s public sector – according to which what is not explicitly mentioned in the law is prohibited. This makes it difficult to make contracting agencies commit to activities beyond their remit, such as the broader involvement of affected communities.