Department of Government Ethics

To strengthen engineering ethics and establish a fine procurement environment, Agency Against Corruption (AAC), Ministry of Justice, and Public Construction Commission (PCC), Executive Yuan, cohosted the “2015 Engineering Ethics and Corruption Prevention Strategies” seminar tour. Starting from September till the end of November, 2015, a total of fourteen seminars were held across the island. Prosecutors were invited to address common types of misconducts in public construction procurement, and experts and scholars from PCC were invited to lecture on engineering ethics. Attendees include construction contractors, professional engineers, public sector’s construction procurement personnel, and government ethics personnel from counties and cities across Taiwan.
The seventh seminar (in Taipei) in the tour was hosted by the Department of Government Ethics at B1 Lecture Hall of Department of Rapid Transit Systems, Taipei City Government, on October 16, 2015. The City’s Deputy Secretary-General Lin Wan-Fa was invited to give a welcome remark, followed by Prosecutor Wu Siao-Ting’s speech on “Common Types of Misconducts in Public Construction Cases”. Being a prosecutor in Taipei District Prosecutors Office, Ms. Wu shared her work experience by using cases to illustrate in detail the constituent elements of corruption crimes in public procurement, in the hope that the attendees would be aware of corruption risks and the legal responsibilities so as to prevent any occurrence of misconducts to ensure quality of public works. Besides, Mr. Lee Shun-Min, Senior Vice President of CECI Engineering Consultants, Inc., Taiwan, was invited to share his rich experience gained from serving as one of the members of Complaint Review Board for Government Procurement (CRBGP) in PCC. Lecturing on the topic of “Introduction to Engineering Ethics”, Mr. Lee elaborated on codes of engineering ethics by sharing with the audience many practical examples. Lastly, Mr. Yang Shih-Chin, Deputy Director-General of AAC, was moderating a comprehensive panel discussion. The panelists include two speakers above-mentioned and three professionals--Mr. Chen Hsin-Ray, Senior Specialist; Mr. Huang Jyh-Yuan, Section Chief; Mr. Lee Wen-Chung, Technical Specialist--from PCC. The panel aimed to offer advice to attendees’ questions, delve into and make clear the issues concerning the identification of the values of earthworks, the guidelines to distinguish a contract amendment from an act of lining moguls’ pockets, the codes of ethics for engineers, procurement evaluation, and etc.
With more than 160 attendees, the seminar in Taipei provided a platform for the administrative authority to exchange opinions face-to-face with the contractors with an aim to offer solutions to any difficulties they face and to deal with any potential crisis. In consequence, around 90% of the attendees felt satisfied with the seminar. It is hoped that, through the seminar tour, the occurrence of misconducts in public construction will be significantly decreased, the quality of public works will be improved, and the consensus on integrity will be reached.