Building Foundations Against Corruption

The report identifies corruption as a strategic business risk in the infrastructure and urban development sectors, specifically highlighting risks in permitting, licensing, and procurement. It proposes a framework for collective action involving the World Economic Forum's Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI), focusing on increasing government interaction, sharing best practices, and implementing transparency tools to create a level playing field.

• The engineering, construction, and real estate industries face unique corruption challenges due to high project values, complex procurement, operations in non-transparent countries, and difficult-to-control supply chains. The Trace International Global Enforcement Report 2012 estimated that 10% of all global enforcement activity under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act since 1977 related to these sectors.
• An industry survey of 50 leading providers revealed that 92% of respondents consider corruption to be a significant reputational risk for a company.
• Primary corruption risks in the sector include bribery between public and private actors, inappropriate information sharing during bidding, facilitation payments for customs or transport, procurement conflicts of interest, and collusion such as bid-rigging and price-fixing.
• Permitting and licensing have been identified as a critical risk area. The Task Force recommends a collective action project focusing on a small number of risk countries and one or more pilot countries to identify concrete issues and mitigation strategies.
• The report recommends increasing interaction with governments to address concerns regarding public procurement, tendering, and reporting mechanisms. Suggested technical solutions include electronic bid systems and standards for verifying subcontractors.
• The Task Force envisions the mid-term creation of a resource centre for compliance and transparency. This centre would maintain a database of countries to leverage multilateral agreements, publish policy papers and case histories, and use forensic analytical tools to study corruption cases.

APA

World Economic Forum (2015). Building Foundations Against Corruption. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_PACI_IU_Building_Foundations_Against_Corruption_.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Building Foundations Against Corruption. 2015. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_PACI_IU_Building_Foundations_Against_Corruption_.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Building Foundations Against Corruption |date=January 2015 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_PACI_IU_Building_Foundations_Against_Corruption_.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2015building, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Building Foundations Against Corruption}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2015}, month = jan, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_PACI_IU_Building_Foundations_Against_Corruption_.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }