WASHINGTON, October 4, 2023 - The World Bank today announced the 18-month debarment of Honduras-based Consultores en Ingeniería S.A. de C.V. (CINSA), an engineering consulting firm, in connection with fraudulent practices under the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience Phase 1 Grant Project in Honduras.
The debarment makes CINSA ineligible to participate in projects and operations financed by institutions of the World Bank. It is part of a settlement agreement, under which the company acknowledges responsibility for the underlying sanctionable practices and agrees to meet specified integrity compliance conditions as a condition for release from debarment.
The project was designed to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Honduran Government for integrating climate resilience in development planning. According to the facts of the case, CINSA misled procurement officials to obtain a contract under the project by failing to disclose a conflict of interest, despite an obligation to do so under the tender requirements and World Bank procurement regulations, and recklessly misrepresented that it did not have a conflict of interest in its bid documents for the contract. This constitutes a fraudulent practice under the World Bank's 2016 Anti-Corruption Guidelines.
The settlement agreement provides for a reduced period of debarment in light of the company's cooperation and voluntary remedial actions. As a condition for release from sanction under the terms of the settlement agreement, the company commits to developing and implementing a Code of Conduct that reflects the relevant principles set out in the World Bank's Integrity Compliance Guidelines, as well as a corporate ethics training program. The company also commits to continue to fully cooperate with the World Bank's Integrity Vice Presidency.
The debarment of CINSA qualifies for cross-debarment by other multilateral development banks (MDBs) under the Agreement for Mutual Enforcement of Debarment Decisions that was signed on April 9, 2010.
