The cross-debarment system
What makes this list more powerful than it appears is the cross-debarment system. Since 2010, the World Bank and four other major multilateral development banks — the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the African Development Bank (AfDB), and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) — mutually recognize each other's debarments. A firm debarred by the ADB for corruption on an infrastructure project in Southeast Asia also appears on the World Bank's list.
What the raw source looks like
The World Bank publishes a downloadable debarment list on their Integrity Vice Presidency website. It's available as a spreadsheet, updated periodically. There's no formal API. Working with it programmatically means downloading, parsing, filtering for active entries, and building a searchable index.
What the API does
Submit a firm or individual name and the API fuzzy-matches it against the combined debarment database — World Bank designations plus all cross-recognized MDB debarments, filtered to active parties only.
Returns matched entries with debarment reason, issuing institution, debarment period, and cross-debarment status.
Who uses this
- Procurement officers at international development organizations screening vendors before contract award
- Legal teams conducting due diligence on potential joint venture partners in international infrastructure
- Banks financing development projects who need to verify proposed contractors are not debarred
- Any organization whose suppliers or partners work in World Bank-financed sectors
Pricing
Free tier: 100 requests/month. Pro: $15/month for 5,000 requests.