- UNE-EN 17687 provides a solid framework to assist authorities and entities in the application of the principles of integrity and accountability in public procurement, and avoid situations that may harm the public interest, undermine public trust and have a negative impact on citizens.
- UNE standards are of great strategic use to public administrations in terms of policy deployment and in the development of compliant regulations.
Madrid, 30 March 2023 - The Spanish Association for Standardization, UNE, in collaboration with the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP), has organized a meeting with experts today to promote the recently published Standard UNE-EN 17687 Public Procurement. Integrity and accountability. Requirements and guidance. This standard provides requirements and guidelines with respect to integrity and accountability in public procurement processes, including from the identification of needs to the delivery of goods, services or work contracts. Technical standards are of great strategic use to public administrations in terms of implementing policy and in the development of compliant regulations.
Lack of commitment to the fundamental principles of integrity, accountability and transparency in public procurement can create room for corruption, undermine the effectiveness of public services, and negatively impact citizens and the value for money of public spending. Risks related to corruption and fraud are important aspects of public procurement around the world.
As many integrity and accountability risks have been identified for procuring organisation to identify and assess, the new standard devotes a chapter to risk management during the public procurement process.
Another relevant aspect of the UNE-EN 17687 Standard is the chapter dedicated to staff, aligned with the National Public Procurement Strategy. It notes the need to increase the professionalization of the public agents involved in tendering processes as a means of improving the efficiency of procurement in the interest of smart, sustainable and integrated growth. The standard lays out requirements, such as that the purchasing organization must have a code of conduct, or that of developing processes to prevent and identify fraud and corruption internally (including the whistleblowing mechanism), based on the results of the risk assessment, together with the recommendation to establish an effective sanctions system, among others.
This document has been drawn up within the European standardisation body, CEN, of which UNE is the Spanish member. The work of monitoring and influencing the development of the document has been carried out in the UNE subcommittee on Public Procurement, which is part of the structure of the UNE Committee on Ethics, Governance and Social Responsibility of Organizations (CTN 165), in which around 50 organizations from the public and private sectors participate, including various sector associations, large companies and SMEs, which have worked guided by principles of openness, transparency, consensus and public-private cooperation, and which guarantee the process of developing UNE standards.
CTN 165 is responsible for standardization in the fields of ethics, governance and social responsibility of organizations and professional activities, as a tool for sustainable development. It includes the management of compliance, ethics and values, professional ethics codes, bioethics and socially responsible instruments, in order to develop technical standards that help organizations to face global challenges, including good governance.
Public procurement, which accounts for around 20% of Spain's GDP, is a fundamental instrument for the public sector to procure, in collaboration with the private sector, the goods and services it needs to perform its functions. Its importance also lies in its relevance from an economic point of view, given its importance to the GDP and to the overall public sector expenditure.
In recent years, the legal regulation of this matter has undergone numerous modifications, some of them significant, in order to adapt to both the economic crisis and to comply with the requirements of European law.
The regulatory framework of the European Union (EU) on public procurement, and the applicable national laws, provide a solid preventive mechanism against the appearance of possible irregularities. The new generation of EU directives adopted in 2014 further underscores the need for greater integrity and the inclusion of specific rules for conflict of interest situations and stricter requirements on the exclusion of suppliers.
In this scenario, on 8 February, the National Public Contracting Strategy 2023-2026 (ENCP), approved in December 2022, was published by the Independent Office of Contract Regulation and Supervision (OIReScon), whose purpose is to address the aspects mentioned in Article 334 of the Public Sector Contracts Law to establish a series of measures and actions that allow the objectives mentioned in this provision to be met. One of the objectives of the ENCP is to combat corruption and irregularities in the application of public procurement laws.
The meeting was attended by Luis Rodulfo, vice-president of UNE and president of CEPCO; Paloma García, Director of Standardisation Programmes and Stakeholder Engagement at UNE; Adrián Dorta, Deputy Director of the FEMP Procurement Centre; Marta Fernández, Head of the UNE Committee on Ethics, Governance and SR of organisations; Alberto Palomar, Chairman of CTN 165 at UNE Lawyer in the Area of Administrative Law at Broseta Abogados; and Juan Barberán, Procurement Director of the Corporación Pública Empresarial de Navarra and member of CTN UNE 165 SC5.
