The Integrity Pact is a civil law contract that is signed for each tender by the government/ government department and the bidder. According to the voluntary agreement, parties refrain from all types of corruption and publish all possible information during the process of public procurement. An independent expert or body is entrusted with the monitoring of the processes. If the independent monitor finds that a party has violated the transparency agreement, sanctions included within will take effect immediately. The transparency agreement covers the whole cycle of the project, from the preparation of tender documents until the last phase of implementation, so the independent monitor’s role is not only limited to the supplier selection procedure.

In Hungary, public procurements are extremely vulnerable in terms of corruption – systematic corruption can increase purchase prices by an internationally estimated 20-25%. According to Transparency International’s experience, the application of integrity pacts reduces purchase prices by 30-60% (e.g. underground of Milan), increases trust in public institutions, and enhances competition in the business sector. Integrity pacts, as a cleaning method of public procurement, are also listed as best practice among the OECD’s latest recommendations on public procurement.