Monitoring public procurement is not a fuss of civil society but is aimed at reducing corruption and fraud in public procurement. This is because procurement contracts are a vulnerable area to corruption risks because a public contract involves the interaction between the public and the private sectors. About 15% of global GDP is moving annually through public contracts between the government and the private sector, and according to international statistics, corruption costs would be around 20% -25% of the purchase budget. These figures, translated into the context of the Republic of Moldova, taking into account that the value of purchases in 2016 amounted to about 7.5 billion lei, help us estimate the cost of corruption in public procurement in Moldova, which would amount to 1.5 billion lei. This is the opinion expressed by the IDIS Viitorul economist, Diana Enachi, in the show "15 minutes of economic realism".
Pressure from civil society, sometimes coupled with a good media campaign, can encourage authorities to sanction corrupt actors, either from the administration or the private sector. For effective monitoring, civil society in the Republic of Moldova needs a good knowledge of the public procurement system, of the legal and institutional framework, of the process that a public authority carries out for purchasing a good but also of monitoring tools through which it can be identified snuggles, fraud, and corruption in the system. IDIS "Viitorul" aims to contribute to strengthening civil society capacities to monitor how money and public resources are used for their purchases.
Thus, this spring, IDIS "Viitorul" implements the project "Improvement innovative public procurement system in Moldova by inclusion, creativity and practice the compliance" funded by the European Union through the Strengthening the role societăţţii civil monitoring budget support operations. As part of this project, we have initiated and implemented a Comprehensive Training Program for civil society organizations, monitors, and journalists in the field of public procurement monitoring. The purpose of this program is to strengthen the capacities of civil society in the Republic of Moldova to understand the functioning of the public procurement system, the institutional and legal framework governing the sector, and the process of procurement by a public entity. Participants are trained in data collection and analysis on procurement, applying innovative tools for identifying irregularities and illegalities, and share accountability of public authorities to carry out transparent and efficient procurement", said Diana Enachi.
The program includes training the monitors to apply a widely recognized and widely applied methodology - the "red flags" instrument, which is based on identifying the risks of fraud and corruption at each stage of the procurement process. It is a very useful tool for the monitoring procurement as it includes not only detection of violations and irregularities, and analysis tools "flags" as well as recommendations to prevent and eliminate the risks of corruption and instituting control bodies and justice . "red flags" in planning the acquisition and development of documentation and specifications relating to: handling needs of contracting authorities, overestimating the value of goods, services or works planned to be procured, publish the annual plan of procurement website, division purchase or "adjust" it to the interests of a person or company.
The show is made by IDIS Viitorul in partnership with Radio Free Europe.
For more details, contact the Public Relations Coordinator IDIS Viitorul, Victor URSU at ursu.victoor@gmail.com or call 069017396.
