The main weaknesses in infrastructure governance in Honduras are related to a lack of trust in the legal framework and a lack of technological and human resources within procuring entities. There is also a lack of dialogue between the institutions that generate data and those using it.

In 2014, CoST conducted a Scoping Study in Honduras to gain insight into the public infrastructure sector. The Scoping Study assessed levels of data publication in line with the CoST Infrastructure Data Standard (CoST IDS), which requires the publication of 40 data points, or ‘items’, across the infrastructure project cycle. While 92% of these data points were available upon request, there were significant limitations to accessibility: only 67% were published on each procuring entity’s website, and only 27% were published on the country’s data portals.

As part of efforts to strengthen transparency, the Government of Honduras joined the Open Government Partnership (OGP) in 2011 and presented its first and second OGP National Action Plans in August 2012 and June 2014, respectively.

In 2014, after submitting a successful application to the CoST International Secretariat, a launch event convened representatives from across government, civil society, academia, the media, and the public, who heard from the President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, alongside CoST Executive Director Petter Matthews.

An array of actors from across government were involved in the implementation of CoST, including the Ministry of Infrastructure and Public Services, the Presidential Directorate of Transparency, Modernisation and State Reform, and the Presidential Office of Project Monitoring.

The CoST Honduras MSG was composed of nine members who guided the programme during 10 years, with representatives from government bodies, civil society organisations, and the private sector.

CoST Honduras made a significant impact in promoting greater transparency in the contracting and implementation stages of infrastructure projects. From 2015 to 2019, the rate of proactively published data (data published without an official request) increased substantially, from 27% to 75%.

CoST Honduras supported the government in creating and developing SISOCS – a subsystem of the national procurement portal – which enabled the online publication of project information. Launched in 2015, the portal empowered citizens by providing them with instant access to key information on their local public infrastructure projects. When SISOCS was launched in 2014, only 13 projects from one procuring entity were published on it. As of September 2021, 2038 projects had been published by nine main procuring entities, with a total value exceeding US$1.1 billion.

CoST Honduras became the first country to apply CoST data publication methods to public-private partnerships (PPPs) when it launched SISOCS PPP in conjunction with the World Bank and the Government in April 2018. Information published on high-value PPPs on SISOCS APP included the $139m Palmerola International Airport and a $1.1bn container and cargo terminal at Puerto Cortés. This marked a significant step toward establishing a culture of transparency in high-value PPP projects. As of September 2021, data on 21 infrastructure projects were on SISOCS PPP, representing a total amount of US$1.46 billion.

To catalyse greater impact in PPP infrastructure projects, the CoST International Secretariat has published the open-source code of SISOCS-APP in our CoST GitHub Repository, allowing it to be adapted and used by CoST members and others.

As mentioned, CoST Honduras has taken the initiative in data publication on PPP infrastructure projects, being the first CoST member to include PPPs in its assurance process in 2017. Later in 2019, its sixth assurance process focused exclusively on PPP projects, which collectively totaled US$277 million, revealing an average disclosure rate of 68.2% of the CoST IDS.

Just five months after the initiative was launched, the government took another key step in its journey towards open and accountable infrastructure. In January 2015, following sustained efforts by CoST Champion Roberto Ordóñez, the government issued an Executive Decree mandating the disclosure of infrastructure project data nationwide.

The Executive Decree requires procuring entities to proactively disclose all 40 data points of the CoST IDS, as well as an additional 31 data items related to infrastructure projects via SISOCS. This has played a key role in institutionalising attitudes towards disclosure. By the time CoST Honduras launched its First Assurance Report in May 2015, proactive disclosure levels stood at an impressive 84% of the CoST IDS.

CoST Honduras undertook eight independent review processes, which evaluated around 100  public infrastructure projects in total, with the most recent reports published in December 2021.

The first three independent review processes identified key issues at the Honduras Road Fund, the government body responsible for maintaining Honduras’s road network. Recommendations from these independent reviews led to concrete actions by the Government of Honduras, which ultimately shut down the Road Fund for a lack of transparency and created a new, transparent body in its place.

Social accountability and civic engagement ensure that information on public infrastructure projects is in the public domain. CoST collaborates with stakeholders, including the media and civil society, to disseminate the findings of the assurance process and ensure that decision-makers are held accountable.

To support the data publication process, CoST Honduras developed a training programme for procuring entities, focusing on the CoST IDS and the use and management of SISOCS.

CoST Honduras developed a diverse, wide-ranging training programme for the media, public, and civil society with the aim of strengthening participation in public infrastructure. More than 600 people were trained, including students, teachers, and university professionals. To bolster its training programme, CoST Honduras signed cooperation agreements with a range of influential organisations in the country, covering 250 of Honduras’s 298 municipalities. These include the country’s Citizen Transparency Commissions, the Honduran Journalists Association, and the Honduran Press Association.

CoST Honduras created the School of Social Accountability to train members of Citizen Transparency Commissions, municipal commissioners, and other civil society organisations.

As of June 2021, 108 social auditors had been trained through the School, and 15 audits of local, publicly funded infrastructure works had been completed. At the request of the government, graduates of the School of Social Accountability collaborated with consultants to assess the levels of data publication and the quality of processes surrounding eight projects procured in the aftermath of Hurricanes Eta and Iota, which impacted Honduras and other countries in Central America in 2020. These projects were included in CoST Honduras’s 8th independent review process, which was published in 2022.

This online, five-week training programme was aimed at infrastructure specialist students and university professionals from across the country. The course provided a platform for CoST Honduras representatives to share their experience and knowledge of anti-corruption measures and key processes that promoted infrastructure transparency.

CoST Honduras developed two training programmes for journalists. The diploma in data journalism was designed to enhance journalists’ ability to analyse and utilise infrastructure information, and CoST Honduras trained 62 journalists and social communicators through this programme.

CoST Honduras also created the CoST Honduras Journalism Prize to encourage investigative research into public infrastructure in Honduras. The award recognised the three ‘best’ news articles related to infrastructure transparency and accountability published in national and other outlets. Alex Flores from El Mundo won first prize in 2020 for a two-part investigation that utilised information gleaned from a comprehensive review of 400 pages of contract data, exposing conflicts of interest in contracts awarded by the government investment body Invest-H for Covid-19 projects. Read our interview with Alex here.

CoST Honduras became an inactive member in 2023, and a year later, its membership was officially withdrawn by the CoST Board in accordance with the applicable policies.