Eighth SIGMA Regional IPA Conference on Public Procurement

 

SIGMA organised the Eighth Regional IPA Conference on Public Procurement in Bečići, Montenegro, on 13-14 June 2018. The event was co-hosted by the Montenegrin Public Procurement Administration.

The main objective of the conference was to provide participants with an overview of the most recent developments in the European Union (EU) public procurement system and the challenges of adjusting public procurement systems to the new international practices in order to enhance smart, sustainable and inclusive growth. The event provided a platform for formal and informal exchange of experiences between SIGMA's Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) partners, the European Commission (EC) and EU member countries.

Participants included senior officials from SIGMA’s IPA partners responsible for designing and implementing public procurement reforms: heads of public procurement offices, their key staff and also officials from the leading ministries and other governmental agencies competent for public procurement. There were also participants from the EC’s DG GROW and some national experts from EU member countries. Representatives of other international donors active in the region (EIB, World Bank) were invited as observers.

Representatives of SIGMA partners presented recent developments and shared their experiences.

The presentations and discussions were organised around the following main themes:

• the EU public procurement policy framework: practical experiences of its implementation at the national level and future developments based on presentations by representatives of the EC and EU member countries;

• the most recent achievements and challenges in public procurement reforms, based on presentations by representatives of SIGMA’s IPA partners;

• the tools for improving the efficiency of public procurement processes (professionalisation, electronic procurement and centralisation of purchasing), based on presentations from the EC and OECD/GOV, EU member countries and SIGMA’s IPA partners,

The conference also provided participants with the opportunity to meet informally to compare national experiences and discuss specific issues among peers.

Agenda I Presentations I List of participants I Speaker biographies

All photographs: Slaven Vilus