On October 16, 2023, the team of the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) Viitorul, which implements the Increasing the Integrity of Public Procurement in Moldova project together with Partnership for Transparency Fund, had meetings with the management of the Public Procurement Agency (PPA) and the National Agency for Solving Complaints (NASC) for the consolidation and coordination of cooperative efforts to promote reform of the public procurement system.

Carolina Ungureanu, deputy director of IDIS Viitorul, thanked the management of the two agencies for taking the time to meet. She provided information on the  project, describing activities already carried out, as well as activities that will be implemented, including the creation of a National Platform for Public Procurement, for which IDIS signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Ministry of Finance.

Carolina Ungureanu proposed to the leaders of the two Agencies to join the platform, which will have the role of a national discussion forum. This permanent mechanism will facilitate communication and dialogue for stakeholders in the field like the authorities responsible for policies, control, regulation, as well as contracting authorities, non-governmental organizations, and economic operators. The objective is to discuss current challenges and solutions (legal, technical, procedural, organizational, etc.) based on a participatory and strategic approach.

According to Carolina Ungureanu, the meetings of the Platform will facilitate the formulation of a common position on the problems and challenges of the public procurement system. Meetings will be held once every three months, or as needed, and will end with recommendations to overcome the challenges and issues discussed. Carolina Ungureanu added that IDIS Viitorul has decided to have bilateral meetings with each actor to identify a list of issues to be discussed at the Platform meetings.

Angela Nani, NASC director, agreed to the idea of the NASC signing a cooperation agreement with IDIS Viitorul and also mentioned that NASC is waiting for reactions from civil society organizations on the work carried out by NASC.

The participants in the discussion found that the biggest problem of public procurement processes is related to the contract execution stage, which is less supervised and controlled. Thus, NASC recommends that non-governmental organizations focus more on analyzing this stage.

IDIS Viitorul emphasized that the Platform would allow the discussion of these issues in a multilateral format. Depending on the topics on the agenda, those concerned and with decision-making power will be invited to participate. Thus, problems will be addressed multilaterally and a common position on the problems will be formulated, which will include the solutions proposed by all parties. The agenda of the discussions will be formed by the members of the Platform, including the NASC, to make known the difficulties and challenges they face.

Ruslan Mălai, the director of PPA, appreciated the opportunity to discuss some recommendations on certain problems and challenges of the procurement system through such a Platform. He suggested that the World Bank, the delegation of the European Union and other development partners of the Republic of Moldova could participate in the meetings of the Platform. IDIS welcomed the idea of ​​inviting those institutions to some meetings, in which their input can play an important role for the procurement system and they could thus contribute to the effort to accelerate the reform of the electronic procurement system.

IDIS Viitorul, PPA and NASC agreed to coordinate their efforts to prepare the activities of the Platform.

One of the issues that will be discussed at the Platform meetings is the current situation of Law no. 74/2020 regarding utilities procurement, regarding its application methods and the authorities with control powers in the field of sectoral procurement.

The draft of the Platform's operating regulations will be sent for consultation to all its members, including the NASC and the PPA. The regulation will be discussed at the first meeting of the Platform, which will take place by the end of the year. The leadership of PPA and NASC confirmed their participation in the launch meeting of the Platform.

------------------------------------------

The Increasing the Integrity of Public Procurement project is implemented by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) Viitorul, in partnership with Partnership for Transparency. The project aims to support public procurement reforms in Moldova that will increase transparency and fairness in public procurement by empowering citizens to hold relevant institutions accountable.

IDIS Viitorul is an independent think tank established in 1993 that combines social, political, and economic research with strong advocacy components. The institution conducts applied monitoring research in several areas: economics, social policy, EU policies, regional development, security, and foreign policy risks.

Partnership for Transparency Fund  (PTF) is based in Washington, DC and its mission is to promote innovative civil society-led approaches to improve governance, increase transparency, promote the rule of law, and reduce corruption in developing and emerging countries. Since 2000, PTF has supported over 250 projects aimed at promoting NGO involvement in decisions, processes, and laws that enforce transparency and accountability in public procurement.