London, 25 June 2018 – The Sport Integrity Global Alliance (SIGA) launches today an international tender process for companies and consortiums to bid for the opportunity to develop its independent rating and verification system to assess and rate sports organisations’ level of implementation of, and compliance with, the SIGA Universal Standards.
With the launch of the SIGA Independent Rating and Verification System, otherwise known as “SIRVS”, the world’s largest sport integrity organisation delivers its promise to provide the sport movement and the wider industry with a rigorous, impartial, objective and strictly independent tool.
SIGA will also issue today the contract notice to several companies, as well as advertising the notice on its website (https://siga-sport.com/contract-notice/). The contract with the successful bidder will commence in January 2019.
In order to ensure the aimed independence, impartiality and neutrality, SIGA decided to appoint a third party to operate the system for a period of three years, as well as an independent and highly qualified jury to conduct the tender process. The members of this jury are:
- Richard Caborn, Sports Consultant, Quest and former UK Sport Minister;
- Pedro Machado, Head of Legal Department, Bank of Portugal; and
- Frederic Thiry, Senior Vice President Business Ethics, ADIT.
The outcome of SIGA’s independent verification and rating will be published on an annual basis. This will be supported by a strong global media campaign to ensure the utmost transparency of the whole process and encourage the sports organisations to continuously enhance their standards.
SIRVS will enter into force in 2019, and its development will progress in three subsequent phases:
– Phase 1: Pilot Projects to test SIRVS;
– Phase 2: Sporting organisations that solicit SIRVS; and
– Phase 3: All sporting organisations (solicited and unsolicited).
Commenting on the significance and impact of SIRVS, Emanuel Macedo de Medeiros, CEO of SIGA, stated:
“The crisis in confidence affecting the sports industry is deep and devastating. Self-assessment is simply not enough. Those who invest their passion and their money in sport want more. They want independent, impartial and unequivocal guarantees that sport organsations are fit for purpose, and trustworthy. SIRVS is our response to them.
It is an integral part of SIGA’s overarching strategy and collective effort to usher sport, and the wider sporting industry, into a new era of enhanced governance, and greater integrity, transparency and accountability.”
Commenting on SIRVS and his appointment to the Jury, Richard Caborn stated:
“The SIGA Independent Rating and Verification System is the most important implementation tool that builds on the back of the SIGA Universal Standards. The system should enable a credible, independent and robust mechanism to assess compliance with the SIGA Universal Standards, and should stand up to public scrutiny. To this end, we look forward to working with the best-in-class service provider to help deliver on this ambitious vision.”
On the occasion of his appointment to the Jury, Pedro Machado stated:
“Sport is undergoing serious challenges which, if not properly and proactively addressed, risk hampering its values. For sport to continue being one of the powerful drivers of humanity it has to be steered with integrity. SIGA represents a truly unique endeavour to address such a concern. It brings together a diversified array of actors bound by the commitment to contribute to preserving and, in some instances, to restore sports integrity. In order to accomplish its mission, it is of the essence that SIGA disposes of tools which enable a meaningful and effective implementation of its integrity standards. The launch of the SIRVS tender procedure represents a milestone in SIGA’s ambitious undertaking.“
Commenting on SIRVS and his appointment to the Jury, Frédéric Thiry stated:
“More than the endless set of rules that they are often portrayed as, integrity, transparency and compliance are a state of mind. In today’s world, these cardinal values must be part of the DNA of any organisation, particularly sports organisations. The launch of SIGA’s SIRVS is the best opportunity for sports organisations to demonstrate that they are up to the challenge and in tune with public expectations.”
ABOUT THE JURY
Richard Caborn
As Britain’s longest serving sports minister and previously Minister for Trade and Industry, Richard Caborn was part of the team that won the hosting rights for the 2012 Olympic Games for London. As Sports Minister he helped to increase participation in physical activity and sport in schools. After a front-bench career spanning nearly two decades Richard left Government in July 2007 to become Gordon Brown’s Ambassador to the football World Cup, charged with trying to bring the tournament to England in 2018. He was instrumental in the formation of the UK Gambling Commission and the introduction of the UK Gambling Act 2015, as well as being involved in bringing the World Anti-Doping Code onto the statute books and is also a leading figure in the UK’s sports development sphere.
Pedro Machado
Pedro Machado is Director Legal Services and Chief Legal Counsel at Banco de Portugal. He has been working for more than 16 years in financial regulation and banking supervision and held several senior positions, notably Deputy Director of the Prudential Supervision Department of Banco de Portugal and Chief of Staff of the Minister for Finance. He has also been FS Risk & Regulation Partner with PwC Portugal during which period he lead the financial services advisory practice on internal governance and risk management. In the field of sports, Pedro has integrated the management board of C.F. “Os Belenenses”
Frédéric Thiry
Frédéric Thiry is a senior corporate counsel with international expertise in brand protection, compliance and litigation. Frederic has over 20 years of experience in leading cross-cultural teams of legal counsels, consultants and investigators to address anti-fraud and compliance issues, developing compliance policies and related trainings for company personnel and consultants. Frédéric currently works as the Senior Vice President Business Ethics & Compliance at ADIT, a leader in the Strategic Analysis sector, where he assists multinationals and SMEs in implementing global compliance and anti-fraud programs, including risk assessments, anti-corruption policy and procedure design and testing, designing anti-fraud and business ethics training and education.
To find out more about SIRVS:
Please visit the SIGA website at https://siga-sport.com/sirvs/ if you are interested in tendering for SIRVS then please send your expressions of interest via email to tenders@siga-sport.com by Monday 16 July 2018.