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.
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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.
On Friday, September 29, 2023, the Coalition of Monitors in public procurement had its second working session. The Coalition was created by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) Viitorul as part of the Increasing the Integrity of Public Procurement in Moldova project, implemented in partnership with Partnership for Transparency. At the meeting, members of the coalition addressed several topics, themes, and issues in the field of public procurement, including the National Programme on Development of Public Procurements System for 2023-2026, transparency and reporting surrounding low-value purchase, and bid rigging.
Diana Enachi, the procurement expert at IDIS Viitorul, spoke about the National Programme on Development of Public Procurements System for 2023-2026, which was approved in August 2023. She said, “this is the most important strategic document in the field of public procurement and has been expected since 2020. It is welcome because it shows that the government has a vision, plans, and goals. It is an ambitious but necessary program. On the one hand, representatives of civil society and the government can work together to identify ways to collaborate and implement planned actions. On the other hand, it is necessary for representatives of civil society to monitor the implementation of the program, its progress at its different stages, what is being achieved, and what is not. If even sixty percent of this program is achieved, we will see finally see some results form the public procurement reforms that began in 2016 but which are still only a little bit visible.”
Ala Revenco, president of the Părinţi Solidari Association (in English, “Parents in Solidarity”), analyzed how low value public procurements are made through the MTedner system under the regulation in force since July 1, 2023. Revenco said, “we have seen a fifty percent increase in the thresholds for low-value public procurement and we have seen new ideas and methods for conducting low-value public procurement. It seems like transparency is improving, but there is still much to be done. The good thing about this regulation is that it requires that small value purchases be carried out through SIA RSAP MTender, which makes them a bit more transparent. Părinţi Solidari analyzed the low-value purchases carried out by the Education Department of the municipality of Chisinau and noticed that the new regulation did not change the behavior of the authorities. It is good to see more bidders for these low-value public procurements, but it remains difficult to extract automated data on low-value public procurements for civil society representatives.”
Olga Diaconu, project coordinator at the Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance (AGER), presented some examples of anti-competitive practices in the field of public procurement. Diaconu said, “during the monitoring we at AGER carried out, we identified instances where contracting authorities described specifications which were so ambiguous as to exclude some contractors from the competition. At the same time, we identified not only some instances in which the contract was awarded to contractors who submitted a non-compliant offer, but also instances of anti-competitive agreements and bid rigging in public procurements. Although we notified several state institutions about these anti-competitive practices, the institutions did not consider these events notable enough to investigate, despite the fact that they clearly indicated bid rigging. The authorities passed their responsibility for investigation from one to the other and have not determined whether or not bid rigging was actually involved.”
Carolina Ungureanu, project coordinator and deputy director of IDIS Viitorul, addressed the members of the Coalition, stating, “the agenda for the Coalition’s discussions can include topics that you consider necessary and important to discuss as well as items that need to be clarified. One of the objectives of the coalition is to use the experience and expertise that we have developed during our monitoring efforts to identify common problems so that we can later bring that knowledge to meetings of the National Public Procurement Platform, a forum that includes not only civil society representatives but also decision-makers. These discussions will add value to the field of public procurement.”
The Coalition of Monitors in Public Procurement is composed of civil society organizations, journalists, experts, and independent monitors from the Republic of Moldova who joined together in a common effort to monitor public procurement. The Coalition will be active until the summer of 2024, with the possibility of extension with the consent of the members.
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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 (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.
On September 26, 2023, the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) Viitorul and the Moldovan Ministry of Finance signed a cooperation agreement that will increase collaboration on improving the transparency and efficiency of the public procurement process with the end goal of ensuring appropriate value for public money spent.
The agreement was signed in the context of the Increasing the Integrity of Public Procurement in Moldova project which IDIS implements in partnership with Partnership for Transparency. The project aims to support the reform of the public procurement sector in the Republic of Moldova and increase the transparency and fairness of public procurement procedures by empowering citizens to hold relevant institutions accountable.
The parties to the agreement consider that the partnership between civil society and public authorities offers a means of increasing the quality of public services in the interest of citizens. The agreement emphasizes that public procurement is an important component of public finances, which is confirmed by the volume of public financial resources that are spent by Moldovan contracting authorities through the system for the procurement of goods, services, and works. The agreement stipulates that ”in 2022, the volume of public procurement exceeded 13 billion lei (≈$713,996,804), which is why ensuring and improving the transparency and efficiency of this process is imperative.”
In June 2022, the Republic of Moldova obtained the status of candidate country to become a member of the European Union and assumed the obligation to implement the recommendations of the European Commission to take necessary measures to improve public procurement at all levels of government, as well as increase the involvement of civil society in decision-making processes at all levels. Thus, the agreement re-emphasizes the need for collaboration between all actors in the public procurement sector and the importance of civil society contribution through monitoring, development of policies, digital tools, and participation in the effort to improve the regulatory framework.
The agreement recognizes that the establishment of effective and permanent communication between the representatives of public institutions responsible for public procurement, contracting authorities, economic operators, and civil society is the basic precondition for coordinating and harmonizing the interests of citizens with those of the state in a democratic atmosphere and in the spirit of the rule of law.
According to the agreement, the parties will organize joint meetings, roundtables, and other activities at which they will address various topics in the field of public procurement and issues that require discussions and consultations with all actors of the sector, in addition to working on finding solutions to address challenges. Additionally, the parties will ensure the systemic and organized participation of their representatives in the activities of the National Public Procurement Platform.
In addition, they will discuss reports, analyses, and other useful information and offer assistance and support in order to create a public procurement sector that generates appropriate value for public money and ensures the provision of quality public services. Also, the parties will exchange opinions, experiences, ideas, concepts, information, and analysis materials to create an effective mechanism for dialogue and collaboration of state institutions and civil society monitors and experts to support the principles of transparency and efficiency in the public procurement process.
Lastly, the parties agree on the elaboration and presentation of consolidated common positions on major topics of the public procurement process, especially on issues affecting the efficient operation and effectiveness of public procurement at the national level.
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The Increasing the Integrity of Public Procurement in Moldova 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 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 (PTF) is based in Washington, DC and its mission is to support innovative civil society organization-led and related approaches to reduce corruption, increase transparency, strengthen governance, and enhance accountability in low- and middle-income economies and widely shares knowledge gleaned through its work. Since 2000, PTF has collaborated with over 160 local civil society partners in approximately 55 countries on more than 285 projects.
Five civil society organizations from the Republic of Moldova will benefit from grants worth 115 thousand dollars for monitoring public procurement carried out by central and local public authorities of 1st and 2nd tier, as well as sectoral procurement. The grant contracts have been signed at the end of August, and the implementation of the projects started on 01.09.2023.
The organizations were selected as a result of the evaluation of the files submitted in the 2nd round of sub-grants, within a call for proposals launched in the framework of the "Strengthening integrity in public procurement" project, implemented by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", in partnership with the US organisation Partnership for Transparency Fund. The purpose of the project is to support the reform of the public procurement sector in the Republic of Moldova, and to increase the transparency and equity of public procurement procedures by strengthening the capacity of citizens to make the relevant institutions accountable.
The selected organizations are the Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance (AGER); Association of Independent Press (API); Transparency International-Moldova (TI-Moldova); The Association for Human Rights Lex XXI” (ADO Lex XXI) NGO and the ”Părinți Solidari ” Association. The project proposals have been evaluated based on evaluation criteria assessing their relevance, impact, expertise, and the efficiency of the budgeted resources, all of which were published in the Funding Guide of the call for proposals.
The organizations have undertaken to monitor the public procurement carried out by contracting authorities/entities such as the General Directorates of Social Assistance in the Northern regions and those within the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection; local authorities involved in the implementation of the "European Village" National Program; municipal departments and enterprises of the Chisinau City Hall, the five Education Directorates within the General Education Directorate of Chisinau Municipality, etc.
The selected organizations, after carrying out the analyses, journalistic investigations, and monitoring, will formulate and submit recommendations to contracting authorities/entities, decision-makers, and control/law/anti-corruption bodies, as appropriate. At the end of the project, the selected organizations will also prepare monitoring reports.
Carolina Ungureanu, project coordinator, vice director of IDIS "Viitorul": "We are glad that several non-governmental organizations from all over the territory of the Republic of Moldova, for.. ex. Șoldănesti, Bălți, Chișinău, Orhei, Ungheni, Criuleni, Basarabeasca, Cimișlia, etc., applied for the second round of our sub-granting program. It was difficult to select the winners because all the applications were good, and interesting and included proposals for monitoring activities that met our expectations. We expect to work productively with the five organizations selected to monitor public procurement at the national, central, local (APL level I and APL level II), sectoral levels, using a variety of tools, and have results and recommendations for decision-makers in view of supporting the reform of the public procurement sector in the Republic of Moldova, in order to increase transparency, efficiency and responsibility in the use of public money".
Lilia Zaharia-Cravcenco, the executive director of TI-Moldova: ”The field of public procurement was and is a problematic one in the Republic of Moldova. For several years, civil society organizations, together with investigative journalists, have been trying to bring to the surface the irregularities and deviations resorted to by some public authorities, but also by some economic agents, who often work in collusion with the contracting authorities to commit illegalities in the public procurement process. We decided to apply to this project to monitor the procurement procedures carried out by Chișinău City Hall and municipal enterprises. In our materials, we would like to see if there are situations when some public procurement is reported as a success of one official or another, especially since we are in an election year, the local elections are close, and some candidates could use public money in this way so as to polish his or her image".
Maria Covalciuc, executive director of AGER: ”We applied for the second round of grants to have continuity in the activity we started. In the first project, we sought to make a recommendation for the amendment of Law 74/2020, namely on the utilities sector. This bill already exists at the Ministry of Finance, and along the way, we will see the related documents that will emerge and react to them if necessary. There are still things in the field that require or attention. Therefore we have proposed to continue this effort, within this project, in such a way that we have tangible results".
Ala Revenco, president of the ”Părinţi Solidari” Association: "In the municipality of Chișinău, the volumes of purchases at the level of education directorates are very high, only on small value purchases more than 10 million lei are granted per year, and to make more than 100 small value purchases within each directorate, and small value purchases often do not have the necessary transparency, I have seen how purchases are divided, how several contracts of small value are concluded with the same economic agents, in a short period of time, and it is obvious that these procedures are abused to favor someone. Our first round of monitoring had a general character, and, as we detected this problem now we want to observe how the new regulation on small-value purchases, which has been approved, will be respected. We want to see what illegalities we can detect regarding the conduct of small value purchases and how we can improve this area".
Petru Macovei, executive director of API: "Monitoring public procurement is a very important process for the democratic development of the country and the fight against corruption in the country. We previously implemented projects regarding the monitoring of public procurement, through which we tried to coagulate the efforts of journalists, and local activists in monitoring. For example, we wanted to see how public procurement contracts are fulfilled in different fields. This project will be a continuation of our previous efforts. The "European Village" National Program is a very big investment and effort by the government of the Republic of Moldova and its donors. We believe that is important that the funding provided for the development of communities in the country must be transparent. The contracting procedures of service providers must also be transparent. Through the planned monitoring, through the investigations that will be written, through the articles promoting the principle of transparency in the activity of LPAs, we will contribute to this".
Diana Grosu, president of Association for Human Rights Lex XXI” (ADO Lex XXI) NGO: "Our organization is very dedicated to the existing problems in the public procurement and transparency sector in the north of the Republic of Moldova. Through our activity, we contribute to the reduction of corruption in the field of public procurement, as we keep an eye on public money and monitor, and hold public authorities accountable. We applied for the second round of grants against the background of these circumstances. We have good results from the first round and we want to continue. Until now, only the municipality of Bălți was in our focus, in the second round we will look at the northern districts".
The first round of sub-grants took place between April 2022 and June 2023, with eight projects being implemented and financed. The second round will be implemented between September 2023 and July 2024. During the competition, two information sessions were organized, where the Funding Guide and the objectives of the grant program were presented in detail and answers to the participants' questions were provided. In total, 15 applications have been submitted (3 - North; 10 - Center; 2 - South).
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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 (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.
Several civil society organizations, journalists, experts and independent monitors from the Republic of Moldova will strengthen their efforts to involve and monitor public procurement by founding the Coalition of monitors in public procurement. In this respect, on June 29, the first meeting to establish the Coalition took place. It is created by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) Viitorul, jointly with the Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF) from the USA, as part of Increasing the Integrity of Public Procurement in Moldova project, which aims to support reforms in the field of procurement public in Moldova.
The Coalition of monitors in public procurement will carry out its activity for a minimum of 12 months (regulated by its own strategy and Organization and Operation Regulation), with the possibility of continuation if the members are interested.
"The Coalition's mission is to consolidate and coordinate the efforts of civil society that monitors public procurement in the process of participating in the dialogue with public authorities. The purpose of the Coalition is to ensure a synergy of the efforts of the civil society that monitors public procurement in identifying problems and proposing solutions to remedy them to the competent public authorities. The aim of these efforts is to influence public policies, increase the transparency and integrity of public procurement, ensure efficiency in the use of public money, minimize the risks of public authorities, and finally, provide citizens with quality public goods, works and services", said Carolina Ungureanu, Deputy director IDIS Viitorul and the Project manager.
For his part, Hady Fink, the Project director from the PTF, emphasized "We very much hope that the Monitoring Coalition will represent a cornerstone in building a robust infrastructure for monitoring public procurement in the Republic of Moldova. The coalition will develop the capacities of civil society through the exchange of experience and will ensure that the findings and recommendations from the monitoring activities contribute to the improvement of the public procurement system".
"The coalition established today is a platform to make our voices heard, to be stronger and to have a greater impact on increasing the transparency and integrity of the public procurement sector. The coalition remains open to other organizations and monitors who want to join our efforts," urged Diana Enachi, Project coordinator and public procurement expert at IDIS "Viitorul".
And for the regulation of public procurement monitoring efforts, including through the exchange of monitoring practices and techniques, the members will be guided by the Coalition Strategy, but also by its Organization and Operation Regulations. The regulation defines the mission, purpose and objectives of the Coalition, among which we can mention: ensuring a participative and inclusive discussion environment, with permanent/systematic debates on issues in the field of public procurement; developing a common vision of civil society on the priorities and main directions of development of the national public procurement system; influencing the decision-making process in the field of public procurement, through active and transparent involvement in the dialogue with regulatory authorities; participation in the elaboration of public policies in the field of public procurement, monitoring and evaluation of their implementation; studying and discussing the relevant European and international experience in the field of public procurement; promoting transparency in the activity of public authorities with attributions in the field of public procurement; elaboration of studies, analyses, researches and reports in the field of public procurement; participation in training and education actions in the field of public procurement and their monitoring, etc.
"We aim to contribute to the transparency of public procurement and to come up with recommendations for improving procurement processes at all stages of implementation", Vadim Ţurcan, the associate expert of IDIS Viitorul, emphasized in this regard.
The members of the Coalition are representatives of civil society organizations, investigative journalists, independent monitors, experts and other people interested in public procurement monitoring. They will receive support from the IDIS Viitorul team and PTF to apply in a consolidated way the expertise, experience, advocacy campaigns and recommendations formulated in order to improve public procurement in Moldova.
"We will have the opportunity to collaborate more and we will be a strong platform that will be able to submit policy proposals, initiate discussions with decision-makers and authorities to contribute to the improvement of the legal framework and the way in which the legal provisions in the field of public procurement are executed", is the opinion of Olga Diaconu, Project Coordinator within the Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance AGER.
Valeriu Rusu, the Executive Director of the Habitat Association mentioned "We want to join our efforts so that the taxpayers' public money is used in a positive trend, a fact that will contribute to the development of our localities".
For her part, Lilia Zaharia, director of Transparency International Moldova, emphasized the importance of the partnership for procurement integrity: "I am glad that you have this initiative to coagulate civil society in the field of procurement, highlight, call out and combat illegalities in the field."
And Dumitru Cimpoeş, president of the Feedback Association from Basarabeasca, said "The authorities are not as transparent as we think, and we do not know how public money is really spent. For this reason, we are motivated to monitor public procurement to ensure local transparency".
"The educational field is very affected by corruption and at the country level we see a negative trend in the use of money, not taking priority needs into account. Through the Coalition, we will join our efforts and maybe we will be able to stop this trend", wants Ala Revenco, president of the Părinţi Solidari Association,
"I want to contribute through my knowledge and experience to the consolidation of the integrity of public procurement for greater transparency, for the efficiency of public money, the prevention of fraud and corruption in public procurement", added the independent monitor, Ion Bulmaga.
Also, within the Coalition, various materials should be encouraged (articles on public procurement monitoring, best practices, results of recommendations proposed to public authorities in the field, etc.), and some materials will be remunerated. The materials developed and the recommendations formulated by the members of the Coalition will later be publicly communicated and transmitted to the decision-makers, thus contributing to the improvement of legislation, policies and practices in the sector.
For more information, please contact the project's Press Officer, Ana-Maria Veveriță, at ana.veverita@viitorul.org or veverita.maria@gmail.com or (022) 221844.
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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 (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.
Under the slogan "America and Moldova - success together", the team of the Increasing the Integrity of Public Procurement in Moldova project implemented by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul" together with the Partnership Fund for Transparency from the USA, presented the project during America's Day, held on May 20, 2023, in the municipality of Cahul.
For the third year, the US Embassy organized a series of outdoor public events dedicated to the cooperation between the Republic of Moldova and the United States of America. The event, dedicated to the strong partnership between the Republic of Moldova and the USA, highlighted the positive impact of American assistance for the residents of the Republic of Moldova.
The start of America's Day in Cahul was given by his Excellency, the US Ambassador to the Republic of Moldova, Kent D. Logsdon and the Mayor of Cahul, Nicolae Dandis. "Dear friends, partners and guests. Many thanks to the Cahul authorities, whose presence demonstrates the partnership and friendship that the USA and Moldova have built over the decades. Since the independence of the Republic of Moldova, the US has invested more than 2 billion dollars in Moldova to help Moldovans build a democratic, prosperous and safe future", the US Ambassador said during the event. For his part, the mayor of Cahul thanked for the projects supported by the American people and their importance for the locality.
The Increasing the Integrity of Public Procurement in Moldova project aims to support reforms in the field of public procurement in Moldova, which will increase the transparency and fairness of public procurement by empowering citizens to hold the relevant institutions accountable. In this sense, America's Day in Cahul was a very good platform for the project team to communicate directly with visitors and to promote among the public the values of transparency and the integrity of purchases. Thus, during the day, the participants were informed about the objectives of the project and the results of the monitoring of public procurement by civil society, as well as other initiatives of IDIS "Viitorul" supported by the US.
"We are honored to present at America's Day in Cahul part of the products developed within the project - "Strengthening integrity in public procurement" - implemented by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) Viitorul together with the Partnership Fund for Transparency in the USA. Thus, the citizens, but also other projects and programs (USAID, IOM, U.S. Embassy Moldova, the project Institutional and Structural Reforms in Moldova, Comunitatea Mea, Promo - LEX, etc.) learned more about our actions and those of the sub-grantees (Ziarul de Garda, Lex XXI, Solidary Parents, etc.) in the field of public procurement. We are glad that the public procurement monitoring guide - a tool for civil society, the newsletters, the leaflets, the infographics from the booklets regarding the financing of education and how we contribute to better financial transparency of educational institutions, etc., have aroused an increased interest. We tried to communicate to the America Day participants about the methodology of the red flags and how citizens can monitor the efficiency of the use of public money in their locality. Also, the IDIS "Viitorul" reports developed within the project "Assessment of the status of local democracy in Moldova", with the financial support of the National Endowment for Democracy, were presented," said Carolina Ungureanu, Deputy director of IDIS "Viitorul" and the Project Manager.
America Days, organized this year in Chisinau, Balti and Cahul, included the exhibition of American assistance projects. Also, those present had interesting activities and thematic areas for the general public: the gastronomic area, the America Bus area, where the public had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the opportunities to learn English, the stage area where a concert took place of music performed by an American band, as well as the screening of the American film FINCH, etc.
America's Days in the Republic of Moldova are in their third edition, marking 30 years since the establishment of diplomatic and friendly relations between Moldova and the United States of America.
For more information, please contact the project's press officer, Ana-Maria Veveriță: ana.veverita@viitorul.org/veverita.maria@gmail.com or phone (0 22) 221844.
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The project "Increasing the Integrity of Public Procurement" is implemented by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", in partnership with the Partnership for Transparency Fund (USA). 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 on several areas: economics, social policy, EU policies, regional development, but also security and foreign policy risks.
The 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.
The citizens of Cimişlia District are better informed about local public procurement. I hope that in the villages of Cimişlia District sidewalks will no longer be constructed with utility poles running down the center, and that contractors will comply with contract specifications instead of performing in whatever way they find convenient, states Andrei Bargan, Director of the Public Association Prospect, one of the eight organizations from Moldova that benefited from a grant within Increasing the Integrity of Public Procurement in Moldova project.
Find out from the February 23 issue of theMonitoring Moldova’s Public Procurement newsletter how the Prospect Association managed to be the only civil organization in the Working Group on public procurement from the Cimişlia district, what the new National Program for the development of the procurement system public includes, how transparent is the Ministry of Education in the view of the Părinți Solidari Association, what challenges do journalists face when it comes to documenting articles about public procurement, how a company from Comrat won a tender after filing an appeal and other interesting articles.
Also in this issue, you will discover the following topics:
NEW: Civil society organizations continue to monitor the integrity of public procurement in Moldova and hold stakeholders accountable
EUROPEAN INTEGRATION: Opinion of the European Commission: Republic of Moldova "at a beginner's level" in public procurement
PUBLIC POLICY: Value for Money - the Objective of the National Procurement Development Program
LEGISLATION: Civil society warns of the risks of the draft law on raising the minimum acquisition threshold in Public Procurement Law
TRANSPARENCY: Părinți Solidari‘s Evaluation of the Financial Transparency of the Moldovan Ministry of Education and Research
INTERVIEW: Andrei Bargan said that Prospect Association is the Only Public Association Represented at the Meetings of the Working Group on Public Procurement in Cimişlia District
REPORTS: Sector Procurement Assessed by the Association for Efficient and Accountable Government in a Series of Publications
MONITORING: Challenges for journalists and activists in documenting public procurement stories discussed with authorities
INVESTIGATION: 800,000 Lei for Repairs at Rîşcani District Hospital - After the Work was Completed, the Sockets were Missing
ANALYSIS: Thermal insulation of the facade of Kindergarten No. 1 in Cahul. A firm from Comrat became the winner of the tender after contesting the initial results
More information can be found in the full version of the Newsletter
This newsletter was produced within the context of the joint PTF and IDIS Viitorul Increasing the Integrity of Public Procurement in Moldova project. The views expressed in the articles, written by IDIS, are solely those of the individuals quoted and do not necessarily reflect the official policies of PTF.
Public associations "Localinvest", "Prospect", "Media-Guard" (in partnership with Ziarul de Gardă), "LEX XXI", "Centrul Contact Cahul" (in partnership with "Cahul 2030"), "AGER", "Părinți Solidari" and the media project "CU SENS" are the civil society organizations in Moldova that currently benefit from grants totaling over US$185,000 to carry out monitoring of public procurement. A primary goal of the grants program is to make recommendations to relevant authorities to improve the integrity and efficiency of public procurement to support the appropriate use of public budgets, and the capacity for good governance.
"For us it is important that civil society representatives and journalists in Moldova monitor the procurement process and provide recommendations for improving communication with authorities and strengthening the integrity of public procurement", said Carolina Ungureanu, Deputy Director of IDIS "Viitorul" and manager of the project "Increasing the Integrity of Public Procurement".
For his part, Hady Fink of PTF and overall Project Director, said "The results of these monitoring projects can potentially have a meaningful impact on the transparency and fairness of public procurement through recommendations for authorities that will contribute to the improvement of the public procurement system and legislation".
The organizations, selected on the basis of a competitive process, receive financial support between $17,000 and $25,000, as well as assistance and advice from and experts in the procurement monitoring process. Grant recipients implement projects that monitor procurement carried out by public authorities, such as municipalities and district councils, publicly owned enterprises, or other state entities. The results of the monitoring are reflected in journalistic articles, infographics, analytical materials, public discussions, and training events.
Thus, from the journalists of the media project "Cu Sens" we can find out through the video materials (Investigation: Why don't I hear?) why the procurement procedure for hearing implants is delayed, who can challenge public tenders and how, and how you can access public tenders. "Our main goal is to track public money and, through our work, to motivate authorities to be more accountable for the way they manage public resources. We have open databases and tools in Moldova that can be used for this purpose. We follow red flags and analyze purchases involving large amounts of money, including urgent or health-related purchases because they involve very large amounts of money", stressed journalist Olga Ceaglei.
At the same time, 15 young people from the country's regions learned how to promote transparency in public procurement, how the procurement system is built, how to identify corruption risks, how to check data and how to communicate these issues, as well as how to write articles in the field during the summer camp "Public procurement in the eyes of young people" organized by the Media-Guard Association on 4-6 August. The Association has published two investigations, completed the documentation of the third one and published two video explanations and is about to publish three more, such as (Video explainer: How we check the purchases of state-owned enterprises or The companies of a district councilor from Călărași "subscribers" to the public budget). "State-owned enterprises do not publish procurement information so we have focused on monitoring procurement by state-owned enterprises linked to state dignitaries who win contracts with such enterprises and where conflicts of interest are attested. In mid-December we will have the final event, presenting the results and conclusions of our project", said Mariana Colun.
Also, from the six sets of materials produced by the Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance (AGER) this semester we can learn more about sectoral public procurement, such as the low-value purchase of 22,000 1.5 l bottles of drinking water by "Apă - Canal Chișinău", why the "Regia Transport Electric" Municipal Entreprise concluded a procurement contract while an appeal was pending at the NACS or other cases related to the application of Law no. 74/2020. "One of the problems identified is the lack of standard documentation in sectoral procurement, or the lack of the ‚banned’ list, or not conducting these types of procurement in the MTender system. At the same time, we organized a round table where we discussed the problems faced by contracting entities in the process of sectoral procurement, but also formulated recommendations for streamlining the legal framework", stressed Olga Diaconu, AGER project coordinator.
The Association "Părinți Solidari" has set out to keep an eye on public procurement carried out by the Ministry of Education and Research and nine other institutions subordinated to the Ministry. To this end, the organization has in recent months monitored 14 procurement procedures carried out by seven institutions, has monitored how information is published on the Ministry of Education's website, e.g. procurement plans and their evaluation, has published two infographics and conducted a Facebook live broadcast on public procurement carried out by the Ministry of Education and Research. "The Ministry of Education continues to be non-transparent because it does not monitor how its institutions use public money," said the association's director, Ala Revenco.
At the regional level, the Association for Human Rights "LEX XXI" from Bălți municipality is proud of two analyses, such as the City Hall of Bălți municipality vs. "Tehnologica Construct" LLC: what interests hide the procurement procedure for "Capital repair of the road part of Independenței street, Bălți municipality"?, two infographics, as well as a public dialogue on the energy crisis in the annual procurement plan in the municipality of Bălți" "Some of the recommendations we have submitted are related to the notification of the contractor about breaches of the contract, the imposition of penalties or the request to include the operator in the ban list", said Daniela Răileanu, assistant in the association.
Several press reports and articles, broadcasts, as well as public seminars on the conduct of public procurement in the Cimișlia district have been prepared by the public association "Prospect". It should be noted that through the project for the first time in the working group on public procurement conducted by the local District Council were included representatives of civil society, namely the public association "Prospect".
Asked by Sabine Engelhard, PTF Senior Advisor and Legal and Regulatory Expert how the authorities were persuaded to let them join the procurement working group, Andrei Bargan, director of Prospect, argued "I think they were simply surprised at first and tried to justify their reluctance by saying that the working group proceedings are confidential. But we agreed to sign a confidentiality agreement and told them that we were monitoring procurement in accordance with the law on a project basis. When they understood our intention, they gradually accepted the situation. In general, people don't know what the working group's role is, what it does and how they can get involved."
"The association is an excellent example of an open, solution-oriented, cooperative and constructive organization in dialogue with the authorities. These elements are also the key to success," noted Sabine Engelhard. She was also interested to find out whether contracting authorities are sanctioned for non-compliance with public procurement legislation or what dangers lurk in very small or unreasonably large contracts.
In the same context, Lars Jeurling, Senior Project Advisor, wanted to know from the participating organizations which are the most suitable tools for monitoring public procurement in Moldova, and also how effective the MTender system is for this purpose.
At the same time, public procurements carried out by the District Council and the District Hospital of Rîșcani, especially the execution of contracts, are monitored within the project implemented by "Localinvest". The total value of procurement monitored by the association this quarter is almost 24 million lei. A product of the project is also the report Repair as usual, only without sockets, on a procurement where only after the completion of repair works, the Rîșcani District Council realized that the electricity system had not been installed.
In Cahul district, for example, public procurement is monitored by citizens and local media with the support of the Center "Contact-Cahul". Thus, six public procurement procedures were monitored, a working group on procurement monitoring was created and eight articles were published in the local press, such as When will the access road to Alexanderfeld village, Cahul district be repaired or Two health centers in Cahul district will be repaired by the company that built the ATLANT Stadium. "In recent months we have made a number of field visits together with members of the working group and we have also hired a technical expert to help us understand what is happening in the field of procurement of construction works. Another objective of our project is to raise public awareness of the need to get involved in the public procurement monitoring process," said the association's director Mihai Cucereanu.
For more information, please contact the project's press officer, Ana-Maria Veveriță: ana.veverita@viitorul.org/veverita.maria@gmail.com or phone (0 22) 221844.
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The project "Increasing the Integrity of Public Procurement" is implemented by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", in partnership with the Partnership for Transparency Fund (USA). 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 on several areas: economics, social policy, EU policies, regional development, but also security and foreign policy risks.
The 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.
Background and short information about the Project
The Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul" in partnership with the US-based Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF) is implementing the project "Increasing Integrity in Public Procurement". The goal of the project is to support public procurement reforms in Moldova, which will increase the transparency and fairness of public procurement by empowering citizens to hold relevant institutions accountable. The project includes a grant program aimed at monitoring public procurement at all levels, identifying red flags and formulating recommendations for public authorities and policymakers. Ultimately, the aim is to foster integrity of public procurement and efficiency in the use of public money.
The selection process for award of sub grants was organized in an open and transparent manner considering:
- the score obtained (based on the evaluation criteria used by the evaluation committee formed by IDIS and PTF) and
- the available amount of USD 185697,2 based on which 8 civil society and media organizations were awarded Grants.
The projects have the following geographical distribution and implementation period:
*all contracts have been signed - middle of April 2022
TERMS OF REFERENCE:
The object of the audit:
The objective of the audit is to obtain a professional auditor opinion on the financial reports of 8 Grants offered within the aforementioned project.
Scope
The audit will be conducted in accordance with national and international auditing standards. Those standards require that the auditor plans and performs the audit to obtain reasonable assurance as to whether the financial statements pertaining to each of the different Grants are free of material misstatements. An audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements pertaining to the different Grants. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statement pertaining to the Grants.
According to the National and International Standards on Auditing, the auditor is expected to carry out tests to confirm that:
The internal control evaluation should include testing the effectiveness of control in the procurement process under the Grant and payment for goods, works, and services for the period reviewed, based on a representative sample for purposes of reducing audit risks.
Period of activity performance
Each audit report, electronic version (in pdf and word format) will be presented within maximum 2 months after the end of each project.
The audit reports (the auditor’s opinion) must comply with the provisions of national and international standards.
Technical tasks:
The audit opinion must be in accordance with International Standard on Related Services (ISRS) 4400. The audit report must contain the financial statements, including the notes (audit opinion) by Grant and the letter to management when one was issued.
The audit report, verified, dated, and signed by the responsible auditor (the name, surname, and position of the qualified and licensed auditor, not only the name of the company) must be submitted to IDIS and PTF according to this RFP.
The audit report will be presented in two copies in English, as well as their electronic version (in pdf and word format).
The auditor will have access to all project documents and accounting documents regarding the procedure for allocating, managing and reporting the Organization’s Grant, in compliance with the principles of confidentiality. If will be necessary, IDIS can provide the necessary support and space for the auditor to facilitate the audit process.
In addition to the audit opinion, the auditor will prepare a Management Letter in which the auditor will:
If none of the above applies, and a management letter is therefore not prepared, the auditor will issue a letter stating that during the audit nothing has come to their attention that the auditor considers pertinent to be brought to the attention of IDIS and PTF.
The audit report or extracts from it may be made public by IDIS and PTF without any limitation, provided that the meaning of the findings is not distorted.
General
The auditor is entitled to unlimited access to all project information and explanations considered necessary to facilitate the audit, including legal documents, project preparation and supervision reports, reports of reviews and investigations, correspondence, and credit account information. The auditor may also seek written confirmation of amounts disbursed and outstanding in the Grants records.
The auditor is encouraged to meet and discuss audit-related matters with IDIS, PTF and Grant’s team in every CSO.
CONTENT OF THE OFFER:
Offers to be made by firms participating in this tender will cover all 8 audits for all 8 Grants. Only 1 audit services contract for all 8 Grants will be awarded to one participating firm.
Only complete files will be accepted for participation in the tender.
The selection of the company will be made based on the fulfillment of all the obligatory requirements and the lowest price.
The offer must include the following documents (obligatory requirements):
Submission deadline
The deadline for submitting the file is November 23, 2022, at 18.00 Moldova time. Please indicate in the title of the email the following: "Submission application_select audit firm". The file will be sent to the following addresses mihai.turcanu@viitorul.org and ungureanu.carolina@gmail.com or at the Iacob Hincu 10/1 street, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova.
Questions
Participants should send clarification questions to the email address mihai.turcanu@viitorul.org before November 18, 2022.
Evaluation process
Administrative verification
The following aspects will be examined in the administrative verification process:
- if the deadline for submitting the file has been met;
- if the file includes all the required documents and the application is complete;
If any of the requested information is missing or incorrect, the file may be rejected. Files that pass the administrative verification will be accepted for the next stage of evaluation.
The examination of tenders will be carried out by the Evaluation Committee on the basis of the criteria listed above.
Communication of results
The selected company will be published on the IDIS website www.viitorul.org by end of November or at beginning of December 2022.
This announcement is launched by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) Viitorul and the Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF) under the project "Increasing Integrity in Public Procurement".
Public procurement is the instrument by which governments spend their money. The large sums of investment that connect public and private interests make the public procurement system a breeding ground for corruption throughout the world, and Moldova is no exception. In practice, however, citizens benefit from the services and works purchased, regardless of the quality, efficiency and fairness of the process. Complex and lengthy procedures, lack of available information and strong interests make it a challenge for citizens to get actively involved without necessarily needing a mandate to do so, says Hady Fink, project director at the Transparency Partnership Fund.
Find out in the September 22 edition of the "Monitoring Moldova's public procurement" newsletter what is the role of civil society in fighting corruption in public procurement, who is behind rigged tenders, what caused the record increase in procurement in the first part of the year, but also what young people think about public procurement monitoring.
Also in this issue, you will discover the following topics:
NEW: Civil society organizations monitor the transparency of public procurement in Moldova. Results include journalistic investigations, analytical reports, and public discussions
NEWS: IDIS "Viitorul" has launched the Good Practices Guide on Sustainable Public Procurement
INFOGRAPHIC: 67 Public Procurements Worth over a Billion lei ($51,569,518), Included in the Plan of the Ministry of Education and Research for 2022
OPINION: Hady Fink: The role of civil society in fighting corruption in public procurement
ANALYSIS: How sectoral procurement has not become more transparent two years after the adoption of Law 74/2020
FIGURES: Record 40% growth in public procurement in the first half of 2022
CU SENS: ”Clean and Dirty”
TRAINING: Young activists on monitoring public procurement: "Information on local budgets available on public administrations' websites is not presented in an accessible format"
MONITORING: Over 10 million lei ($515,017) of road repair works in Cahul. Find out who is carrying them out
INVESTIGATION: The rigged bids files: postponed hearings, zero enforced convictions, and firms still "subscribed" to public money
More information can be found in the full version of the Newsletter
This newsletter is prepared within the project “Increasing the integrity in public procurement”, implemented by Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", in partnership with Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF)
