Highlights of the Probidad Survey

To assess public sector corruption and the perceptions of business leaders, PROBIDAD developed a national survey that included 150 questions. Responses were received from 420 companies that had done business with the Government of Colombia. Some of these responses are highlighted below.

As reported in the November / December 2000 issue of Overseas Report, PFC was designed and launched last fall to target corruption through the media and to ensure that investigative journalists in Latin America get the support they need from national and international advocates of free speech. PFC's initial efforts received considerable publicity when the organization helped to rally support for persecuted journalists and contributed to the release of Bolivian journalist Lupe Andrade and Mexican journalist Antonio Pinedo.

• Based on a hypothetical scenario, respondents were asked to estimate the amount paid to secure a contract. In Medellin, the bribe was approximately 11.9 percent of the total contract value. In Bogota, it was 12.4 percent, in Cali it was 13.6 percent, and in Barranquilla it was 18.3 percent.
• When asked who takes the initiative in cases of bribery, 38 percent said that they knew in advance the amount of the bribe and the form the payments should take. (Nearly half of these respondents said they routinely include the costs of the bribe in their budgets.) Forty-four percent said the initiative comes from public employees, while only seven percent said that the initiative comes from the private sector.
• Less than half of all business leaders surveyed (47 percent) said they would blow the whistle on a bribe solicitation in an effort to secure a government contract. Another 28 percent said that they would limit themselves to working with other companies, including their competitors. Twenty-one percent did not respond to the question at all.
• The level of corruption within different government entities was also assesssed. Surprisingly, perhaps, the business community felt that the judiciary and regulatory agencies were least corrupt, compared to the National Congress and the Social Security Administration, which were at the top of the list.

Overall, the PROBIDAD survey highlighted the fact that there is little cooperation with anti-corruption organizations and little effort to collaborate with competitors to push for transparency in the bidding process.