“Hacked” public procurement: The Integrity Authority has taken legal action in the case involving New Land Media – interview with Ferenc Pál Biró, President of the Integrity Authority

Media1 has interviewed Ferenc Pál Biró, President of the Integrity Authority, in the wake of the Public Procurement Arbitration Board’s (PPAB) decision to void those parts of the Integrity Authority’s anti-corruption communications tender that were not won by the partnership consisting of New Land Media, a pro-government media firm, and Lounge Design- The PPAB decision was made following a review initiated by New Land Media headed by Gyula Balásy, a businessman close to the government. Previously, we have seen from the public procurement database that state actors have spent nearly HUF 1,400 billion at Lounge Group through the National Communications Office’s system since 2015.

The Integrity Authority launched a negotiated procedure on 9 April 2024 to select adequate professional partners for the execution of the authority’s media plan and supporting its education and awareness raising objectives, including its anti-corruption communications campaigns. The Integrity Authority’s call for tenders allowed for broad participation.

The procedure consisted of three parts, the results of which were announced on 9 July following the appropriate evaluation procedures and assessment by a panel of experts. This outcome was then challenged by New Land Media headed by Gyula Balásy (pictured on the right). The Public Procurement Arbitration Board (PPAB) has voided the public procurement procedure, citing illegalities. However, the identified illegality was not disputed in the procedure’s preparatory phase by New Land Media either. This was the topic of our discussion with Ferenc Pál Biró, President of the Integrity Authority (pictured on the left), who revealed that the Integrity Authority will take legal action in the case because they find the PPAB’s decision unlawful.

Media1: Mr. President, what can you do now that the Arbitration Board has made this decision to void your communications tender in response to New Land Media’s petition? How detrimental is this decision to your objectives?

Ferenc Pál Biró (President, Integrity Authority) In my opinion, the Public Procurement Arbitration Board’s decision is unlawful, based on weak professional grounds, and unjustified. Sadly, we were expecting this move, since this is not the first case where the PPAB has deviated from the law during its decade-long existence. We believe that law and justice are on our side, which is why we are bringing the PPAB’s decision to court.

If New Land Media had put as much effort into developing the concept of their tender as they did into contesting the decision (by the way, they only challenged the parts which they did not win), they could have prepared a far superior professional material, and we would not have this situation from a wounded pride.

I would like to mention two events that shed light on the bizarre nature of the entire procedure. Firstly, New Land Media submitted its applications for review after the statutory time limit. Therefore, in our opinion, the Public Procurement Arbitration Board should not have accepted these applications. The PPAB’s actions are factually unlawful, as these should have been rejected without consideration. Secondly: the tender procedure was completed under the control of the Public Procurement Authority; therefore, prior to its publication, we sent the call for our communications tender to the Public Procurement Authority for review, and they made some observations and suggestions for corrections. These were all implemented into the call by the Integrity Authority without any exceptions, and we were granted permission to launch the tender procedure. After all of this, the Public Procurement Arbitration Board has ruled that the Public Procurement Authority contributed to the publication of an unlawful tender call.

Media1: Considering that your organisation was established as part of an EU deal, are you required to inform the EU in such cases?

Ferenc Pál Biró: We are functioning as a national authority, and therefore we are trying to manage the country’s problems within its borders. We are not overseen by the EU, and we certainly won’t run to “complain” that we are being treated badly. However, we find it sad that our work is clearly being obstructed by this move and that, at the end of the day, this is also detrimental to the country. It goes without saying that they cannot divert us from the objectives that we wanted to achieve with this tender call, that is to bring about a change in business culture and broader societal attitudes.

Media1: How can you manage communications while this lawsuit is obviously going to last for a long time?

Ferenc Pál Biró: Naturally we are going to relaunch this public procurement procedure, expecting applications from professionals once again and hoping to receive quality professional products. There were several market participants that actually sought preliminary professional consultation and negotiations, participants that came prepared with high-quality professional work. In contrast, it speaks volumes that, besides a minimal professional team, the consortium of New Land Media and Lounge Group sent 5 lawyers who likely have limited expertise in communications planning and implementation. Obviously, the opportunity to offer relevant information to the public and the media still remains: I trust that we have sufficient meaningful content to communicate, even without the opportunity for media buying. However, it will be more difficult to promote our Integrity Academy, which was established exactly to raise awareness and show to the Hungarians that this kind of behaviour is not acceptable.

Media1: So, until the lawsuit is over, you will try to communicate your messages to the media and maintain your communication objectives through publishing press releases?

Ferenc Pál Biró: In terms of media buying, we are currently exploring the possibilities of how we could achieve our stated strategic objectives, namely to bring about a change in business culture and broader societal attitudes through communication tools that are effective and reach a wider audience, and to reach a point where high corruption, abuse of power and influence peddling are no longer tolerated.

Media1: How long do you expect the lawsuit to last?

Ferenc Pál Biró: As regards first instance, namely the Budapest Metropolitan Court, we are expecting at least six months. Only when that is concluded might we have the opportunity to proceed.

Here you can read the original Hungarian-language interview: „Meghekkelt” közbeszerzés: Jogi útra terelte a New Land Media ügyét az Integritás Hatóság – interjú Biró Ferenc Pállal, az IH elnökével | Media1