Welcome to the Rutgers Center for Government Compliance and Ethics
Founded in July 2010, the Rutgers Center for Government Compliance and Ethics (RCGCE) seeks to advance the application of effective ethics and compliance program principles as an element of public governance at the federal, state, and local levels in the United States and worldwide through a variety of activities including research, education, networking, and thought leadership.
In 1788, James Madison noted in his Federalist Paper No. 51: “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.”
Madison’s observation about the obligation of government to control itself, as well as the governed, is as true now as it was more than 220 years ago. The RCGCE focuses on the obligation of the government to control itself, and seeks to promote a culture where workers and citizens alike understand what the rules are, seek to apply them in their daily lives, and see that the organization is complying with the highest standards.
The RCGCE is rooted in the establishment of the Jay A. Sigler Fund for Corporate Compliance, which was established in 2008 by attorney and Rutgers–Camden alumnus Joe Murphy to help business, governmental, and non-profit organizations better understand the complexities of compliance and ethics. A global expert in the area of organizational compliance and ethics, Murphy named the fund for Sigler, a professor emeritus of public policy and administration at Rutgers–Camden.
Joe Murphy and Emil Moschella urge the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to use management techniques developed in the private sector to promote integrity in government.
Emil Moschella, Executive Director of the Rutgers Center for Governemnt Compliance and Ethics, and Joe Murphy, CCEP, author of 501 Ideas for Your Compliance & Ethics Program (SCEE; 2008), have filed coments with the Organization fro Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Council on Public Integrity, making some provocative suggestions on the Council’s draft Recommendation on Public Integrity. The OECD is a forum where the governments of 34 democracies with market economies work to promote economic growth, prosperity, and sustainable development.
Based on their decades of practical experience, Emil and Joe suggest:
- The Council should use the concept of a compliance and ethics (“C&E”) program, as widely applied globally, as a starting point and model. C&E programs are already widespread – why reinvent the concepts?
- The Council should consider using the OECD Working Group on Bribery’s Good Practice Guidance modified to address public integrity and public sector entities. These are good standards for compliance programs – why not use them?
- The Recommendation should include examples to illustrate how the suggestions in the Recommendation would work on best practice basis.
- The Council should include public international organization, such as the OECD, in the scope of the Recommendation. We think it is good for those making recommendations to follow their own advice.
- The Recommendation should call on the public sector to promote C&E in the private sector to protect public integrity. If we want honest government it helps to promote integrity in the private sector, and C&E programs there help protect everyone.
- The Council should advise states not to take actions that undercut C&E programs anywhere, whether in the private sector or the public sector. There have been some terribly ill-advised actions by governments that hurt C&E programs. Why have one part of government undermining something that another part is promoting?
- The Council should form an ongoing working group to promote and implement the Recommendation. The Recommendation is good and should have some ongoing life.
- The Rutgers Center for Government Compliance and Ethics offers an important resource for development of public integrity programs. The Rutgers resource is a one-of-a-kind source for guidance on how government agencies can implement their own, internal C&E programs.
Compliance Programs in Government: Affecting Ethical Culture
September 19, 2014
Rutgers-Camden Center for Government Compliance and Ethics Welcomes Ethics Research Center’s Report Calling for Government Agency Compliance Programs
Sunday, May 13, 2012
The Center’s Presentation at the annual federal Office of Government Ethics annual conference September, 2011
DOJ review: FBI’s Integrity and Compliance Program, republished from the “Compliance and Ethics Professional” March/April 2012 with permission of the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics.