No tax without information: Transparency in public procurement in Kosovo

Prishtina, 18 July 2017 – Lëvizja FOL held today a roundtable discussion where a draft report “No Tax without Information: Transparency in Public Procurement in Kosovo” was published. Petrit Zogaj from FOL said that today will be presented the report on public procurement. “FOL has been dealing about 6 years with public procurement, seeing that the obstacles are numerous FOL is committed to make recommendations and to influence the improvement of the situation in this field,” said Zogaj.

Meanwhile, Jeton Zulfaj from FOL said that the methodology of this report includes a series of interviews with institutions, research through case studies, focusing on transparency in public procurement. The main findings of this report relate to the limited transparency offered by the current legal framework and limited access to public documents based on the law on public procurement. The centralized procurement system causes corruption to be present, while the lack of partner register in public procurement leaves much room for corruption development. Failure to verify foreign businesses from ARBK causes many foreign businesses to come and operate in Kosovo. Zulfaj added that access to contracts is often justified by calling on commercial interests, while the online public procurement platform offers limited access for citizens wishing to know more about public contracts.

Vjosa Pllana fromFOL said that “institutions that restrict access to public documents on the basis of the protection of economic and commercial interests make constitutional violations”.

Safet Hoxha, chairman of the PPRC, said that the findings of this report reflect all the involvement of institutions in the spending of public money. According to him, all stakeholders should have equal access at all stages so that transparency is at the right level. “As procurement is being defined as a complex process, we need to know that our legislation has also been able to reach a satisfactory level, although there is still a need for improvement.” Hoxha said that every purchase over 1000 Euros, any changes in the tendering process, any result, decisions of the PRB etc., are published on the PPRC’s website. “We are working intensively to improve e-procurement to increase the level of transparency and increase the confidence of citizens in the public procurement process.” According to him, E-PROCUREMENT is currently at a limited stage in terms of access to it, but it is working on this and when the platform is stabilized, NGOs and citizens will have access.

Stephen Carpenter from USAID / TEAM said it would stop more on transparency of procurement processes. “To have a good procurement system we should have E-Procurement even more functional, good functioning of auditing, and have active media and civil society,” said Carpenter, adding that Kosovo has made some progress in these four areas but still a lot of work to do.

According to him, the Government has introduced some key modules, but there are still other modules. “Preparation of technical specifications, review of complaints, contract management, these are the areas where USAID / TEAM is working with other stakeholders to increase the capacity”.

Shaip Havolli, director of AKM, said that with review of the legal framework, the agency has added some responsibilities regarding the investigation of procurement activities. “The more problem lies in monitoring the contracts. There is usually doubt about the fact that economic operators are rewarded during the implementation because quality is not good or less served. Also, the problem lies with the procurement officers who have to be sanctioned for the violations they have committed. So far, there are very few penalties for these officials in writing any more, “said Havolli, adding that businesses that are under investigation or those who have been brought criminal charges are not entering the black list by the contracting authorities.

Kreshnik Gashi from BIRN said that we are discussing transparency and accountability in public procurement, but we are forgetting that the government is still keeping us the biggest contract in this country on the highway. “There is a year and a half that BIRN has won the trial and the Office of the Prime Minister refuses to give us access to the expenditure bills,” said Gashi.

Mehdi Pllashniku from ARBK said that all the information that ARBK publishes on the web site are defined by law.

 

Ky grant është financuar nga projekti Promovimi i Shoqërisë Demokratike (DSP) – i financuar nga Zyra Zvicerane për Bashkëpunim në Kosovë (SCO-K) dhe Ministria e Punëve të Jashtme e Danimarkës (DANIDA) dhe menaxhuar nga Kosovar Civil Society Foundation – KCSF