The Royal Thai Air Force's (RTAF) decision to sign an integrity pact for its light attack aircraft procurement last week is the right move to improve transparency in its weapons procurement process.
The scheme should be adopted for all military hardware procurements by all forces. However, the unprecedented integrity pact is not enough to ensure public confidence in arms procurement.
Air force commander-in-chief ACM Airbull Suttiwan signed the integrity pact on Thursday for the procurement of 12 AT-6 Wolverine light attack aircraft from the US under a special cooperation programme. The air force will spend 4.5 billion baht in the first phase of purchasing eight aircraft.
The integrity pact is a public-private joint agreement requiring the presence of outsiders to observe all stages of the procurement process -- from drafting the terms of reference, which must be fair to all sides, to evaluating delivered projects.
The move is aimed at building public trust in the procurement process. The signing ceremony was coincidentally arranged at a time when the air force was facing criticism concerning its plan to spend 54.4 million baht to renovate toilets on its VVIP aircraft.
Critics have linked the two moves, saying that the the integrity pact ceremony is the air force's attempt to ease criticism as the pact was signed after the air force had concluded on the specifications and models of the aircraft it will purchase.
Generally, major corruption in state procurement happens during the auction or supplier selection processes and before they are concluded. An integrity pact will not efficiently prevent corruption if it is arranged after a supplier or product is singled out.
Nevertheless, the unprecedented move of the air force is a good start which should be applauded. The RTAF voluntarily arranged the pact.
In the middle of this year, the Anti-Corruption Cooperation Committee, chaired by the finance minister, decided not to pick four aircraft procurement projects of the RTAF and the army to conduct an integrity pact, according to Isra News Agency report.
The air force's procurement of light attack aircraft was among the four projects.
The decision was made following requests by the RTAF and the army which reasoned that by laws and agreements with the private sector, the procurements contain confidential information which should not to be revealed to third parties.
The controversial resolution has paved the way for arms procurement projects to be concealed from public scrutiny as has happened for a long time.
Late last year, a representative of the United Nations Development Programme pointed out the Thai state could have lost 100 billion baht in revenue as a result of corruption related to public procurements.
It sheds light on the need for public procurement projects to be subject to efficient and independent inspection. During the past six years, there has been progress in this area. The integrity pact and the construction sector transparency (CoST), which applies to construction project bidding, are eagerly awaited.
The Anti-Corruption Cooperation Committee's resolution to allow the RTAF and the army to step away from the integrity pact is shameful, hindering the country's anti-corruption efforts.
The air force's latest move to arrange an integrity pact should be applied to every major arm procurement of all forces to prove that the government is genuinely trying to tackle corruption in this country.
