Third regional ENP East conference on public procurement

 

SIGMA, together with the State Procurement Agency of Georgia, organised this conference for all European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) East countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine). The conference took place in Tbilisi on 6-7 November 2019.

The conference was attended by senior officials from the region responsible in their administrations for designing and implementing public procurement reforms: the heads of public procurement offices/agencies and procurement review bodies and their key staff, and also officials from the leading ministries (ministries of finance or economy) and other governmental agencies competent for public procurement. Several high-level representatives from the European Commission (DG GROW and DG NEAR), the OECD Public Governance Directorate (OECD/GOV), national experts from the EU member states and candidate countries, other international donors active in the region (EBRD, EIB, World Bank) and civil society organisations attended the event.

The discussion was based on case study presentations. Speakers from the ENP countries and representatives of the European Commission, OECD/GOV, SIGMA and EU member states provided information about recent developments in public procurement policies and provided examples of good practice. Participants from the ENP region presented recent developments and shared lessons learned. The meeting provided all participants with the opportunity to meet informally, compare national experiences and discuss specific issues among peers, and to establish a network for more regular exchanges.

The topics discussed during the conference included: public procurement policies promoted by the EU and OECD, tools for increasing efficiency (including centralised purchasing and framework agreements), electronic procurement, access to procurement markets for small and medium-sized enterprises, key requirements for an independent and efficient review system (with several country examples), the role of civil society in monitoring the implementation of procurement rules, tools for analysing and assessing the national procurement systems, and ideas for further developments.

Conference agenda

Presentations, Wednesday 6 November:

The European Commission’s policy priorities for public procurement, Bonifacio Garcia Porras, DG GROW

Implementation of the 2015 OECD recommendation on public procurement, Erika Bozzay, OECD Public Governance Directorate

The challenges of measuring the efficiency of national public procurement system, Angela Russo, Italy

Central purchasing bodies: a framework for measuring productivity and economic impact, Paulo Magina, OECD Public Governance Directorate

Contract award criteria, Darisz Koba, Poland 

Centralised purchasing and modern IT tools for optimising public procurement, Uwe Flach, Austria

The e-procurement system in Belarus, Natalia Dulchevska, Belarus

The evolution of e-procurement in Moldova, Ruslan Malai, Moldova

The electronic procurement system Prozorro and use of open data, Lilia Lakhtionova, Ukraine

SMEs in public procurement - inside and outside the EU, Carmen-Raluca Ipate, DG GROW  

Access to procurement for small and medium sized enterprises in the ENP East region – an overview, Daniel Ivarsson, SIGMA expert

Presentations, Thursday 7 November:

Key requirements for an independent and efficient review system, Laszlo Kojnok, DG GROW 

Establishment of the procurement review system in Georgia: key dilemmas and challenges, Tadeja Pusnar, Slovenian Procurement Review Commission, EU Twinning Project in Georgia 

The independence of the review bodies and the requirement of impartiality in decision making, Gheorghe Cazan, SIGMA 

The Armenian public procurement review system, Armenia 

National Complaint Settlement Agency (procurement review system), Moldova

Polish procurement review system, Darisz Koba, Poland 

Open contracting data standard: the role of data in public procurement, Viktor Nestulia, Open Contracting Partnership

Role of civil society in monitoring the implementation of procurement rules, Ana Durnic, Montenegro

Public procurement monitoring: the DOZORRO ecosystem, Anastasiya Kozlovtseva, Ukraine

CoST-Infrastructure Transparency Initiative, Hamish Goldie-Scot, United Kingdom

Public procurement of innovation in Austria - examples, Uwe Flach, Austria

The new maps: experiences from assessing public procurement systems, Paulo Magina, OECD Public Governance Directorate

The Principles of Public Administration: a Framework for ENP Countries, Marian Lemke, SIGMA

Reforms in public procurement, Azerbaijan

Development of electronic services and possibilities, Anna Bespalova, Ukraine

Two decades of lessons learnt of public procurement reform, Piotr-Nils Gorecki, SIGMA 

(Entire package of conference documents)