The WOODIe project focuses on open data and whistleblower protection, two measures identified by the EU, the OECD and many international NGOs as crucial to reach transparency and integrity in public procurement and to deter and detect corruption as well.
The aim of the project is to assess the current implementation and the impact of these measures in some significant Member States in order to develop an impact assessment model that will be operationalized through an ICT tool for public administrations.
Under the coordination of the University of Turin (Italy), the research consortium gathers universities and associations from Austria (Vienna Centre for Societal Security), France (University of Angers), Italy (Amapola Progetti), Romania (Romanian Center for European Policies), and Slovenia (University of Maribor).
The countries have been selected because they could be considered an interesting sample for a comparative impact assessment. The organization of public administration in these countries is multifaceted as well as the openness of their market; the overall level of vulnerability of public procurement to crime and corruption is very different from one to another (i.e. Ireland and Slovenia have been identified by the EU as less vulnerable); the degree of awareness and engagement of citizens is various as well (Romania is standing alone on citizens engagement, and Italy registers a certain level of awareness and citizens’ commitment).
Only a few EU countries have comprehensive self-standing legislation on the whistleblower, while most of them have partial provisions within wider, a-specific legislations. The legal framework for the adoption of open data policies in public administration and the links between open data and public contracts, mainly but not only regarding the e-procurement procedures, are still raw and subject to important implementations.
In the first phase, the project will research on the recent developments of the EU initiatives on whistleblower and open data as well as on the legal framework on these two measures in the involved Member States. The research team will then assess the impact of whistleblower and open data legislation and policy trying to understand how these measures work and are implemented and to identify critical differences, barriers, and factors of the implementation.
Thereafter, an assessment model grounded on the result of these activities and an ICT tool allowing the public administration to self-evaluate their policy on whistleblowing and open data will be developed as the final result of the project. Measuring the impact of whistleblower protection and open data policies the ICT tool will aim at providing any public administration with a useful instrument for testing, ultimately, their capacity of increasing real transparency and preventing, detecting and combating corruption.
Moreover, the expected outcomes of the WOODIe project include an increased awareness of Member States and EU institutions on the importance of an adequate whistleblower protection and open data policy as well as of the monitoring and evaluation mechanisms to assess the impact of these recent anti-corruption measures.
Last but not least, the project aims at contributing to improve the citizen trust in public bodies concerning the correct use of public funds through a strengthening but easier oversight and monitoring of public procurement and an increased willingness to report wrongdoing and corrupt practices in the workplace without fear of retaliation or negative consequences.
Project period
Start: January 2019
End: April 2021
