Road consultants need to sign anti-corruption pact

livemint.com:

NEW DELHI : The government plans to make it mandatory for consultants working on road construction projects to enter into ‘integrity pacts’ in keeping with global best practices. Such consultants will also have to show how much local sourcing they have in their service to bring in sync with the government’s public procurement guidelines.To be sure, the anti-corruption pact for consultants is not legally enforceable. However, it has also been made mandatory for builders contractors working on projects for individual public sector units such as the National Highway Authority of India.

Local sourcing in consultancy operations would mean employment of local personnel and use of local equipment, wherever required. The ministry of road transport and highways has issued a final draft of the proposed amendment in the standard request for proposal (RFP) document for detailed project report (DPR) consultancy work. It also proposes stricter penal provisions for putting out false information about individuals and firms, including a ban on working on government infrastructure projects for two years.

In fact, consultancy firms would have to return salaries claimed for persons employed in the firm where information is found to be false and incorrect. The draft amendment would be finalized and notified by the ministry early next month after completing stakeholder consultation. “The changes proposed by road ministry have legal implications which are difficult to comment on," said a consultant from one of the four big consultancy firms on condition of anonymity.