Members
| Member | country | |
| Reginald Vachon vP.E.* | vachonr@asme.org | USA |
| William Henry P.E.** | whenrype@wavecable.com | USA |
| Carlos Roberto Moura P.E. | carlosrsmoura@gmail.com | Brazil |
| Richard Fletcher P.E. | fletcher@urban-systems.com | Canada |
| Ana Quirós Lara P.E. | aquiros@ecoglobala.com | Costa Rica |
| Fernando Ortiz P.E. | jmcingcr@gmail.com | Costa Rica |
| Guillermo Olivares Maldonado P.E. | proatec_or@hotmail.com | Peru |
* Chairman
** Co - Chairman
For many years, one of the major problems in the construction sector has been the lack of transparency in management which promotes and leads to different expressions of corruption acts which, in turn, threaten the equality of opportunities, healthy competition, and quality of the social goods and services offered by engineering.
Some of the consequences of those corrupt acts are capital leaks and deviations, inadequate, unsafe public infrastructure works, human and economic capital misuse, and traffic of influences fostered by the exercise of power through means and sources not considered by the countries’ political charters which attempt against their citizens’ expectations and hopes.
In fact, one of the most harmful consequences of this “large scale corruption” (i.e., the corruption related to transnational trade between large companies and government institutions) is that it directly works against democracy, especially because corruption perverts decision-making by undermining the principle of advertising inherent to democracy. Furthermore, corruption directly impacts poverty as it ends up being a kind of “tax” affecting the poorest the most. And, as Malem has pointed out, corruption endangers people’s life, “this being its darkest and most horrifying facet.”
At the company or organization level, corruption also exercises its destructive power every time it starts and is maintained. It endangers the institution’s credibility and prestige, both nationally and internationally, depending on the scope of the corrupt acts. And the internal contamination effects don’t take long to affect the company’s own performance, thus creating a destructive cycle of lower quality products, negligent or vaguer enforcement of safety limits and controls, decrease in the quantity of necessary and sufficient elements for proper management and services, all of which brings about a systematic and steady loss of competitiveness.
Given these damaging consequences of corruption, especially present in the construction sector, and given that this is not a new or historically foreign phenomenon, UPADI can no longer postpone its clear, value added guidance to help prevent corruption and foster transparency in management and all Pan-American engineering tasks.
In order to identify the contribution that UPADI could bring to this transcendental topic which is directly associated to the continent’s sustainable development, we would like to invite UPADI Member Organizations to become involved in the Working Group on Anticorruption and Transparency (hereinafter, the “GAT”).
To significantly promote and foster anticorruption and transparency policies in the exercise of our profession, through programs, activities, and training promoted by UPADI Member Organizations in their countries.”
UPADI will be recognized as a promoting agent of anticorruption and transparency policies throughout the Continent.
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