The Defence Companies Index on Anti-Corruption and Corporate Transparency (DCI) assesses the levels of commitment to anti-corruption and transparency in the corporate policies and procedures of 134 defence companies worldwide.
Due to significant changes in the aim, focus, methodology, and question set of the 2020 index, any comparison with previous indices is not possible or appropriate.
Companies included in the DCI 2020 were selected on the basis that:
- the company features in the top 100 defence companies listings produced by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and/or Defense News; or
- the company is the largest national defence company headquartered in a country with arms exports of at least £10 million, as identified by SIPRI that otherwise would not have been included in the first criterion.
Based on in-depth discussions with anti-corruption and defence experts, Transparency International Defence & Security identified 10 key areas where stronger controls and greater transparency can reduce corruption risk, and these form the basis for the assessment questionnaire. These areas are:
- Leadership and Organisational Culture
- Internal Controls
- Support to Employees
- Conflict of Interest
- Customer Engagement
- Supply Chain Management
- Agents, Intermediaries, and Joint Ventures
- Offsets
- High Risk Markets
- State-Owned Enterprises
Each company is assessed based on the information that it makes available in the public domain, measured by a set of questions across the 10 risk areas. For each question, a company may receive a score of ‘2’, ‘1’ or ‘0’ depending on the extent to which the company’s publicly available information meets the good practice standards of anti-corruption and transparency outlined in the scoring criteria. Transparency International – Defence & Security engages with companies throughout the process, inviting relevant company representatives to provide feedback on a draft version of their assessment and make changes to their publicly available information where appropriate.
Companies receive an overall result in the form of bands between ‘A’ and ‘F’, with ‘A’ showing a ‘very high’ commitment and ‘F’ indicating a ‘very low’ commitment to anti-corruption and transparency.
The DCI Methods Paper provides a detailed explanation of the rationale and methodology behind the index.
Explore the indicators that make up the 2020 Defence Companies Index on the DCI Indicators page, or download the 2020 DCI Questionnaire & Model Answers from this page to see the specific indicators and scoring rubric applied to each assessment.