Public procurement has always been tempting for private companies. The competition has increased in recent years as well as the fight for public money. Authorities are making efforts to optimize public procurement procedures, but economic operators have stated in the workshop on open contracts that most contracting authorities are delaying payments for deliveries of goods, services or works. This reduces the interest of the economic agents to participate later in auctions, which affects competition in the procurement market.
"Public contracts are strongly exposed to the risks of corruption, which are even higher as transparency is lower. Open contracting helps us to prevent these risks from disclosing information throughout the procurement process and involving all actors. It is about the private environment and civil society by reporting irregularities and proposals to improve the quality of procurement. Where transparency is ensured and economic agents are well-informed and treated, their interest and degree of participation in acquisitions will increase", explained IDIS Viitorul economist Diana Enachi at the workshop.
Viorel Chivriga, Program Director of IDIS Viitorul, notes a break between budgetary policies and other development policies, and in order to address this challenge, it has to take into account the inter-relationship between open contracting and other relevant approaches within the framework of the PGI, such as the open development. In this respect, the Government should ensure that the data from the open-end initiative is complemented by other data sets relevant to development, such as sectorial strategies.
The economic agents who participated in the workshop noted the issue of the payments for the purchase contracts. Transfers are delayed as a result of lack of money from contracting authorities. Moreover, there is the 5% clause in the procurement contract for good execution, which also hampers the full payment set in the contract.
The workshop was organized by IDIS Viitorul in the framework of the project: "Development of open contracting in Moldova through information and capacity building activities for participants in the public procurement process through developing information and capacity building for participants in the public procurement process Procurement process ", financed by the World Bank.
