CoST- The Infrastructure Transparency Initiative is a multinational effort to explore how public construction projects could be made more transparent and accountable, reducing the mismanagement, waste, and corruption that are common in the sector. Governments, affected stakeholders, and the wider public all stand to benefit.

In the Philippines, corruption in construction and infrastructure is broadly recognized to be high, and the CoST pilot has been able to benefit from a strong civil society momentum for transparency. For the Multi Stakeholder Group (MSG) that directed the Philippines CoST pilot, the challenge has been to coordinate elements of existing transparency initiatives into an integrated and cohesive effort that can ensure the transparency of material project information throughout the entire cycle of a public sector construction project. This note documents how the pilot was established and implemented and how it has sought to make CoST sustainable by working within existing government structures.

This is the ninth in a series of briefing notes on CoST, its core features and impact.