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)
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 200,000, 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 statements of 8 Grants offered within the aforementioned project. The cumulative financial value of the Grants is USD 185,608. The accounting records for the Grants are established to reflect the financial transactions in respect of the project, providing the basis for financial statements preparation.
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. The audit will examine the financial statements prepared in accordance with the National Accounting Standards.
Also, during the audit, the observance of the fiscal legislation in force within the activities of the Organization will be verified.
Technical tasks:
The audit opinion must be in accordance with International Standard on Auditing (ISA) 700/705. 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 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 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 October 25, 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
Questions
Participants should send clarification questions to the email address mihai.turcanu@viitorul.org before October 17, 2022. The answers to all questions asked will be published on October 20, 2022.
Evaluation process
Administrative verification
The following aspects will be examined in the administrative verification process:
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 November 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". The project aims to support procurement reforms in Moldova that will increase transparency and fairness of public procurement through empowering citizens to hold relevant institutions accountable.
Journalistic investigations, TV shows, trainings, informative materials and infographics regarding the public procurement process. They are part of the results of civil society organizations receiving grants in the framework of the project "Increasing the integrity in public procurement", which is implemented by the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul" in collaboration with the Partnership for Transparency Fund. In this respect, civil society representatives and the project implementation team met online on August 17, 2022 to exchange experience and share the progress of their initiatives in the first three months of their implementation.
Public associations "Localinvest", "Prospect", "Media-Guard" (in partnership with Ziarul de Gardă), "LEX XXI", "Centrul Contact Cahul" (in partnership with "Cahul 2030"), "AGER", "Parents" Solidari" and the media project "CU SENS" are civil society organizations in Moldova that benefit from grants totaling more than 185 thousand dollars for monitoring public procurement. The grant program carried out by IDIS "Viitorul" aims to formulate recommendations in order to improve the level of communication with the relevant authorities, the integrity of public procurement, the efficiency of public procurement, public budgets and the capacity for good governance.
"We are committed within the project to support reforms in public procurement, which will increase the transparency, efficiency and fairness of procurement, through the involvement of civil society and investigative journalists. Our central objective is to improve the situation in the field of transparency, and recommendations for improving the legal framework or for strengthening the capacities of civil society, contracting authorities and economic operators. I would like to thank the organizations that are part of the sub-granting program for openness, involvement, great work and I am happy for the unique activities carried out", stated Carolina Ungureanu, deputy director of IDIS "Viitorul" and Manager of the project "Increasing of integrity in public procurement".
In his turn, Hady Fink, the project director at PTF, specified "This exchange of information is very welcome and it is great to know the achievements of each organization, to learn from the experience of others and to use different methodologies".
The organizations, selected on the basis of a competitive process, benefit from financial support of between 17 and 25 thousand dollars, assistance and expertise in the procurement monitoring process. Grantees implement procurement monitoring projects carried out by public authorities, such as town halls and district councils, enterprises with public capital or other state entities. The monitoring results are reflected in reports, analytical materials, journalistic investigations, infographics, trainings and public events.
Thus, from the journalists of the "CU SENS" media project, who monitored over 50 public procurement procedures, we can find out through the video materials who and how can contest public tenders and why a cleaning company continues to take about 60% of public money contracts for cleaning services within the "Clean - Dirty" investigation. "We want to put pressure on the authorities and certain interest groups that are behind acts of corruption and to increase the degree of intolerance to corruption in society", emphasized journalist Sergiu Ipatii.
În același timp, Asociația „Media-Guard" a monitorizat 67 de proceduri de achiziții publice în ultimele luni și a realizat o serie de investigații jurnalistice în domeniu, cum ar fi Dependența antigrindină de Rusia și Dosarele licitațiilor trucate: Ședințe amânate, zero condamnări cu executare și firme „abonate” în continuare la banii publici.
At the same time, the "Media-Guard" Association monitored 67 public procurement procedures in the last months and carried out a series of journalistic investigations in the field, such as Anti-Hail Dependence on Russia and Rigged Tenders Files: Postponed Meetings, Zero Convictions enforcement and companies still "subscribing" to public money.
For its part, the "Parents Solidari" Association proposed to keep an eye on the public procurements carried out by the Ministry of Education and Research and nine other institutions subordinate to the Ministry during the period April 2022 - January 2023. In this sense, the organization monitored in the last on Monday seven procurement procedures carried out at the relevant Ministry, the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Education and Research (ANACEC), the National Agency for Curriculum and Evaluation (ANCE) and the Center for Information and Communication Technologies in Education (CTICE).
Also, from the materials developed by the Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance (AGER) within the project, we can learn more about sectoral public procurement, such as the ANSC practice in cases related to the application of Law no. 74/2020 on procurement in the energy, water, transport and postal services sectors. "We chose the field of sectoral procurement because it is a newer one and there are many gaps that we want to understand better and come up with recommendations", says Olga Diaconu, AGER project coordinator.
At the regional level, the Association for Human Rights "LEX XXI" from the municipality of Balti is proud of a campaign to inform citizens about public procurement procedures, but also a public dialogue about the transparency of public procurement procedures in the municipality, organized in July "We want citizens to know public procurement procedures better and get involved because public money is our money," said Diana Grosu, president of the association.
Several reports and press articles on the conduct of public procurement in the Cimișia district were developed by the Public Association "Prospect", and the public procurement carried out by the District Council and the District Hospital of Rîșcani are monitored within the project implemented by A.O. "Localinvest".
In Cahul district, for example, public procurement is monitored by citizens and the local press with the support of A.O. "Contact-Cahul" Center. Thus, two public procurement procedures of the Cahul Municipality were analyzed and a working group formed by citizens was created which will monitor four public procurement procedures carried out by the local authorities, directly at the contract execution stage.
Subsequently, the investigations, findings and recommendations formulated by civil society representatives after the procurement monitoring process will be sent to the decision-makers to be examined and actions taken to improve the situation, thus holding the authorities involved accountable. The expected result would be achieving efficiency in the use of public money, minimizing the risks of public authorities, and finally, quality public goods, works and services for the citizens of the Republic of Moldova.
For more information, contact the Press Officer of the project, Ana - Maria Veverița: ana.veverita@viitorul.org/veverita.maria@gmail.com or at the phone number (0 22) 221844.
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The project “Increasing the Integrity in Public Procurement” is implemented by Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul," in collaboration with Partnership for Transparency (PTF). It aims to support procurement reforms in Moldova that will increase transparency and fairness of public procurement through empowering citizens to hold relevant institutions accountable.
IDIS „Viitorul” is an independent think tank, founded in 1993 that combines social, political and economic research with solid advocacy components. The institution conducts applied monitoring research in several areas: economy, social policy, EU policies, regional development, but also security and foreign policy risks.
Based in Washington, DC, the Partnership for Transparency's (PTF) mission is to advance innovative civil society-led approaches to improve governance, increase transparency, promote the rule of law, and reduce corruption in developing and emerging countries.
Public procurement is an area vulnerable to fraud and corruption. Addressing these risks requires the improvement of systems: management systems, integrity systems and processes to strengthen the public system, motivate public officials, and create conditions, laws, processes, and regulations that are clear, easy to apply, and do not lead to misinterpretation.
Find out in the May 22 edition of the "Monitoring Moldova's public procurement" newsletter what are the benefits and risks involved in the draft amendment to the Public Procurement Act registered in Parliament, how many procurements were concluded in 2021, what are the most frequent violations in terms of public procurement and the conditions to be respected in the case of works procurement.
Also in this issue, you will discover the following topics:
NEWS: IDIS "Viitorul" presents the updated edition of the Public Procurement Monitoring Guide
NEWS: Values of public works contracts adjusted by new mechanisms
OPINION: Vadim Turcan: "Technical and professional capacity essential for determining similar experience in public works procurement"
LEGISLATION: Benefits and risks of the draft amendment to the Law on Public Procurement registered in Parliament
ANALYSIS: Procurement of more than 8 billion lei concluded by Moldovan public authorities in 2021
INTEGRITY: Diana Enachi: "Where there is a lack of transparency, sanctions, and control, public procurement risks fraud"
CONTROL: Who checks the legality of public procurement and what are the most common violations
PUBLIC MONEY: "Dedicated" purchases: Car dealers' one-off bids for municipalities' indigo requirements
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)
Integrity Pacts ensure transparency in all stages of the procurement process, from needs assessment to contract management and payment. They can enhance participation, competition, and accountability, ultimately contributing to greater trust, believes Wayne Wittig, Project Adviser, at the Partnership for Transparency Fund.
Find out in the February 22 edition of the "Monitoring Moldova's public procurement" newsletter what the role and impact of integrity pacts is, how the salary of construction workers in public works procurement is calculated, what challenges include the Mtender system and other interesting articles.
Also in this issue, you will discover the following topics:
NEWS: The public procurement system evaluation report according to World Bank's MAPS methodology was publicly presented
ANNOUNCEMENT: IDIS "Viitorul" announces $ 25,000 grant award for civil society in the field of public procurement monitoring
LEGISLATIVE NEWS: Violations in the procurement process are sanctioned, but not adjusted to current legislation
TRANSPARENCY: The public procurement information portal of the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova was launched - achizitii.parlament.md
PUBLIC POLICIES: Government priorities in the field of public procurement in 2022
PROCUREMENTS OF WORKS: How the salary of construction workers is calculated within the procedures for public procurement of works
OPINION: Wayne Wittig "Integrity Pacts: Just the Facts”
ELECTRONIC PROCUREMENT: Electronic procurement: news and the future of the MTender electronic system
RED FLAGS: Red flags in the public procurement of the Transport Department
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)
Under the project "Increasing Integrity in Public Procurement" the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul" in partnership with the Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF) is launching a competition for grant funding to monitor 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. This can be achieved by training civil society organizations (CSOs) and investigative journalist organizations to be watchdogs in monitoring public procurement, and by supporting their work for a period of time with grant funding.
Grants (between US $ 5,000 and US $ 25,000) will be awarded to Moldovan civil society organizations and investigative journalist organizations based on a competitive selection process to support them in responsible and effective monitoring of public procurement.
Civil society organizations and investigative journalist organizations interested in conducting procurement monitoring can apply for a grant by submitting a proposal for monitoring.
Objectives of the grant program
Who can apply?
Public associations (civil society organizations and investigative journalist organizations) registered in the Republic of Moldova (from all localities and regions of the country).
Eligibility criteria
Public associations may apply individually or partnerships may be established among several non-governmental organizations.
What should the project proposal include?
The objective of the project proposal will be to focus on monitoring of public procurement, and it should specify the monitoring actions to be undertaken. Monitoring of ongoing procurement procedures is mandatory.
Important: Completed procurement procedures cannot be included in the project as an objective of monitoring.
Ineligible activities
The following (or similar) activities are ineligible
Value and duration of projects
The total amount available for grants is US $ 200,000. Civil society associations registered in the Republic of Moldova can apply for and apply for grants of at least US $ 5,000 and up to US $ 25,000. The implementation period of the project must not exceed 12 months.
Project proposals will be evaluated by the Evaluation Committee on the basis of an evaluation grid. After evaluation of all proposals, grants will be awarded within the available budget.
The evaluation schedule of the project proposals and all the conditions of application can be found in the Funding Guide.
Application procedure
The application file must include the following documents:
Only fully-completed applications will be processed and accepted in the grant competition.
Deadline
The deadline for submitting the file is March 17, 2022, at 23.00, indicating "Application for grants for monitoring public procurement". The file will be sent to mihai.turcanu@viitorul.org and ungureanu.carolina@gmail.com.
The list of beneficiary organizations will be published on the IDIS "Viitorul" website www.viitorul.org in mid-April 2022.
Questions for clarification can be addressed to the email address mihai.turcanu@viitorul.org until March 10, 2022. For interested organizations, IDIS "Viitorul" will organize two information sessions on the application procedure on March 2 and 4, at 10.00 (For registration, go to this link.) The answers to all the questions asked will be published on March 11, 2022 on www.viitorul.org.
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The project “Increasing the integrity in public procurement” is implemented by Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) "Viitorul", in partnership with Partnership for Transparency Fund (PTF). It aims to support procurement reforms in Moldova that will increase transparency and fairness of public procurement through empowering citizens to hold relevant institutions accountable. This will be accomplished through training civil society organizations to serve as watchdogs by monitoring public procurement.
Public procurements of works are probably the most complex procedures in terms of awarding documentation. According to the 2020 report of the Public Procurement Agency, the procurement of works represents over 4.5 billion lei, which constitutes approximately 50% of the total value of awarded contracts. The conduct of public procurement of works requires rigorous additional planning and the involvement of construction specialists. At the same time, a specific area that is not covered are the consulting services and here we talk about advising the beneficiary's representative, namely the technical manager and copyright controller, believes Vadim Turcan, Public procurement expert.
Find out from the December issue of the "Monitoring Moldova's public procurement" newsletter what needs to be improved in terms of public works procurement in Moldova, what are the challenges of the new functionalities of the MTender system, what risks threaten the integrity of public procurement, how you can monitor purchases in your locality with the help of public spending map and other interesting news.
Also in this issue you will discover the following topics:
LEGISLATIVE NEWS: The new Standard Documentation for Public Procurement of Goods and Services has been published
NEWS: The public money spending map – a tool to help you monitor the local procurements
UNITARY PRACTICES: NACS has developed a unitary practice to facilitate the public procurement process
ELECTRONIC PROCUREMENTS: New features versus MTender electronic procurement priorities
INTERVIEW: Vadim Țurcan: "Public procurement of works requires rigorous planning, knowledge of legislation and the involvement of construction specialists"
TRAINING: Over 40 civil society representatives strengthened their capacity in public procurement monitoring
REPORT: Risk assessment for increasing the integrity in Moldova’s public procurement
AUDIT: The audit on public procurement at the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, discussed in Parliamentary Committee
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).
