Lëvizja FOL with the support of USAID launched the Open Procurement Transparency Portal

Prishtina, 5 July 2018 – Lëvizja FOL with the support of USAID Transparent, Effective and Accountable Municipalities (USAID TEAM) today has launched “Open Procurement Transparency Portal”.

Mexhide Demolli – Nimani, Executive Director of Lëvizja FOL said that this portal is one of the most important activities that FOL has made during its several years of work on monitoring the public procurement. “It is a pleasure for us as FOL to present today this portal, the main objective of which is to increase transparency and accountability regarding the spending of public money by Kosovo institutions. This portal would not be possible without the support of USAID Transparent, Effective and Accountable Municipalities (USAID TEAM)”, said Demolli-Nimani, thanking also the Public Procurement Regulatory Commission (PPRC) for cooperation, without them this portal would not be complete.

Deputy Ambassador of the United States of America, Coline Hyland said that this portal enables creating an environment for businesses and reducing the risk of corruption in the public sphere and it is not an easy job but is urgently needed. “In order to reduce corruption in public affairs, it is necessary and essential to maintain a continuous cooperation between government institutions and civil society. For this I want to thanks Mr. Safet Hoxha and PPRC, whom serves as a good example of how this cooperation seems like. This also applies to other partners such as FOL Movement, which has collected data from the PPRC to calculate for the sake of transparency, “said Deputy Ambassador Hyland. Same stands for other partners as is Lëvizja FOL, which has collected data from the PPRC to calculate for the sake of transparency, “said Deputy Ambassador Hyland.

While the Chairman of the Public Procurement Regulatory Board, Safet Hoxha said that the media and civil society are strategic partners that can address the fight against corruption in public procurement in Kosovo. “Together we are reaching dynamically to fight corruption. In this battle, however, is crucial the donor assistance, who today are sharing with us the work and the result of their engagement and investment”, he said. Hoxha said that businesses should be treated as a partner of the state of Kosovo, so the help toward businesses is a help to our state and the capacity building of our state. “In this plan there is no more honest work than affirming the transparency and increasing accountability in public procurement. Therefore launching the Open Procurement Portal is a new achievement, it is a powerful demonstration of this partnership that we are building with donors and civil society that will serve not only to NGOs, but also to the media and Kosovo citizens to see what are the developments in this area”, said Hoxha.

Meanwhile, Jeton Zulfaj, program manager at Lëvizja FOL, who introduced the portal said that the data on this portal are automatically collected from the electronic procurement platform and presented in a friendly way for the user, enabling researchers, businesses and investigators to explore the interactive links between cash flow, public and private actors. “Public procurement transparency portal in Kosovo has transformative potential in promoting accountability and combating corruption. The portal facilitates monitoring activities by civil society organizations (CSOs), investigative journalists, the private sector and the public.” Access to information helps the public to track where money is spent, making Kosovo public institutions more transparent and accountable. Also, among the business community, the Transparency Portal will remove asymmetry in information and thus increase healthy competition. The concept of the “Open Procurement Transparency Portal” is inspired by a model developed by ‘Transparency International’ in Slovakia.

Participants in this activity were key actors from the Government of Kosovo and civil society organizations.

The Open Procurement Transparency Portal is developed by the Lëvizja FOL through the grant agreement awarded by USAID Transparent, Effective and Accountable Municipalities (USAID TEAM).