Seoul’s Clean Construction SystemPart III

Overall Lessons Learnt & Policy Recommendations

UNDP Seoul Policy Centre &

Seoul Metropolitan Infrastructure Headquarters

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Citizen Utilization & Recognition of Al-limi

To date, Allimi has disclosed information on 2,600 public construction projects in Seoul,covering 14 types of information, drawn through a real-time transmission of informa-tion stored in the One-Project Management Information System (One-PMIS):

• construction period;• budget; • scale;• progress rates;• weekly progress reports; • construction photos; • key project participants; • contact information of project managers (i.e. from the ordering body, the contrac-

tor companies, and engineering supervision companies);

• primary as well as sub-contract details and payment status; • changes in the overall project design; • extension of construction periods; on-site monitoring briefs from citizens; • penalty points imposed on contractors; and • project approval documents

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1. Citizen Utilization & Recognition of Al-limi

In 2015 alone, 164,419 people used the Allimi through its website, while another 5,867 people accessed information through the mobile application.  On 16 June 2016, Seoul’s ‘Allimi’ received the Human Technology Award in Korea, in recognition of its contributions to information sharing, public interest, and value creation in society.

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2. Success Factors of CCS Implementa-tion

1. Political will and drive from the top to build and enforce this system for transparency and efficiency

2. Bottom-up solution finding approach and civil society consultations in the development, implementation, and upgrading of the system

3. Dedicated staff and cross-sector teams for management of One-PMIS and Allimi for ensuring holistic solution-finding and accountable management of the system

4. Ongoing reforms in Seoul’s public administration system to bring about changes of the attitudes and mindset among public officials

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3. Overall Lessons learnt from Seoul’s CCS

1. Standardization & digitalization of business and reporting processes is important to reducing corruption risks

2. Minimizing unnecessary personal contacts among project participants (i.e. informal reporting, private gatherings and dine-outs) can help reduce the opportunities for corruption

3. Providing real-time information is the key

4. Information disclosure to the citizens can create an underlying culture for accountability and reduce social conflicts surrounding public construction projects.

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3. Overall Lessons learnt from Seoul’s CCS

5. Ongoing system upgrades are just as important as the initial development, and there has to be a multi-year budget allocated for this purpose.

2011 2013 2014 2015 2016

Project System establishment

Maintenance and system

improvement

Maintenance and system

improvement

Maintenance and system

improvement

Maintenance and system

improvement

Total Expenditure

930 mil KRW

(Approx. 793,000 USD)

245 mil KRW

(Approx. 209,000 USD)

386 mil KRW

(Approx. 330,000 USD)

236 mil KRW

(Approx. 201,000 USD)

209 mil KRW

(Approx. 178,000 USD)

Establishment 700

Maintenance 230 195 324 194 209

System Improvement 50 62 42

<Table: Seoul’s Expenditure for CCS development and maintenance/upgrades>

*Note: CCS helps manage most of the public construction projects that the Seoul Infrastructure Headquarters manage with an annual budget of approx. 1.3 billion USD

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4. Recommendations for CCS introduc-tion

1. Create an effective enforcement mechanism, through legal as well as other means2. Put necessary human and financial resources for One-PMIS and Allimi management

and maintenance 3. Create a standard data classification system and build a user-oriented system 4. Create/strengthen offline venues of information-sharing and consultation with

citizens to synergize with the online Allimi.

Left: Project introduction meeting & consultation with local residents

Right: Notices made in a public park, near the road improvement sites, with the project information and contact information with the names of the responsible persons Also provided is a hotline to report on corruption cases or delays in subcontract payments.

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4. Recommendations for CCS introduc-tion

5. Introduce targeted anti-corruption policies to create an enabling environment to prevent corruption

Korea’s Examples:

• Post-employment restrictions for public officials (to prevent a conflict of interest)

• Reporting center for construction subcontractors & the subcontractor tribune

There is no perfect solution for addressing corruption and efficiency in public construction

management. But in Seoul’s experience, practical systems like

CCS that change the business processes and influence the work culture for transparency CAN

make a difference over time.