The World Bank Wednesday announced the 18-month debarment of a Honduras-based engineering consulting firm for failing to disclose a conflict of interest in bid documents for a project in Honduras.
Consultores en Ingeniería S.A. de C.V. (CINSA) is ineligible to participate in projects and operations financed by institutions of the World Bank during the debarment.
The project — the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience Phase 1 Grant Project — was designed to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Honduran Government for integrating climate resilience in development planning.
CINSA “misled procurement officials to obtain a contract under the project by failing to disclose a conflict of interest, despite an obligation to do so under the tender requirements and World Bank procurement regulations, and recklessly misrepresented that it did not have a conflict of interest in its bid documents for the contract,” the World Bank said.
CINSA’s action constitutes a fraudulent practice under the World Bank’s 2016 Anti-Corruption Guidelines.
As a condition for release under the terms of the settlement agreement, the company committed to developing and implementing a Code of Conduct that reflects the relevant principles set out in the World Bank’s Integrity Compliance Guidelines, as well as a corporate ethics training program.
The company also committed to continue to fully cooperate with the World Bank’s Integrity Vice Presidency.
The World Bank said the settlement agreement “provides for a reduced period of debarment in light of the company’s cooperation and voluntary remedial actions.”
The debarment qualifies for cross-debarment by the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, and the African Development Bank.
A list of all World Bank debarred entities and individuals is here.
Comments are closed for this article!