The Integrity and Transparency Assessment (ITA) is a tool developed by the integration of Thai and South Korean governmental body assessments, first conceived in 2014. It is designed to be a creative force in improving the Thai bureaucratic system, rather than being a fault finding machine.
Aiming to put forward the current status and issues of morality and transparency in government agencies’ operations, the ITA serves as an annual examination that helps to improve the organisations’ performance in the next fiscal year and enables them to provide more efficient services to the general public.
Developed by the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) from various operating standards, the ITA not only prevents corruption but is also a tool for driving government policies, national strategies, relevant law implementation, and good governance. Therefore, this appraisal is considered the most holistic and comprehensive tool in regard to governance management extending to the most government agencies. With participation from both the public and government officials, the ITA will overall benefit the three main parties of society, the people, government officials, and the country.
The ITA assessment is one of the master plans under the 20-year National Strategy regarding Anti-Corruption and Misconduct B.E. 2561-2580 (2018-2037), which dictates that all government agencies participate in the ITA assessment from B.E. 2561 to 2580 (2018 to 2037). The National Strategy sets the first phase’s target that at least 80 percent of the total 8,304 agencies nationwide receive 85 or higher marks. With assistance from Thammasat University, Kasetsart University, and the Royal Police Cadet Academy, these educational and research institutions act as an advisory body evaluating and providing scores for each agency on information disclosure.
This year, the NACC has developed an IT main information system called ITAS and a mobile application with the same name in order to make the assessment quicker and more standardised. All Thai people who have contacted or received services from government agencies this year can do the assessment of those agencies. Government officials who have worked in any organisation for more than a year can evaluate such organisation, too. The ITA collects three sets of data, as follows:
Part One: Data from personnel in government agencies (IIT)
Issues collected from government officials cover five areas of management and operation, namely performance of official duties, national budget expenditure, fairness and integrity of a superior’s authority, validity of governmental property use, and efforts and attention in resolving corruption within an organisation.
Part Two: Data from people who have contacted or received services from government agencies (EIT)
The general public, legal persons, private companies, or other organisations that have previously contacted or received services from government agencies can undertake an assessment.
With no more than 15 questions, the assessment will cover all three aspects of operations, including operation quality, communication efficiency, and improvement of work system.
Part Three: Disclosure of information on the agencies’ website (OIT)
The disclosure of information on the agencies’ website aims to facilitate access to information by the public, enhance transparency of each department, and drive corruption prevention efforts. The open data can be divided into two categories.
Firstly, information on basic knowledge of the organisation covers five main topics, namely basic information, administration, budget management, human resource management and development, and transparency promotion.
On the other hand, information on corruption prevention performance covers two topics, namely result of anti-corruption performance and internal measure to prevent corruption.
The ITA assessment, the ITAS main information system, and the mobile application ITAS are developed as tools for two main target groups: government officials to improve morality and transparency, and; the general public to check and follow the government’s transparency standards.
On this occasion, the NACC would like to invite all Thai people, fellow civil servants, and government officials to altogether strengthen morality and transparency of Thai government agencies by answering online surveys via itas.nacc.go.th, ITAS mobile application, or QR code, which will be posted on public relations boards and service points of government agencies. All answers will remain confidential. The assessment period is from 1 June - 31 July 2020. Collected data will help reflect the transparency of the Thai government and improve each department’s operations for the benefit of the Thai people.
Source : ONACC