Public Procurement

Due to the large amount of money that is spent annually for the procurement of goods and services within public projects, the area of public procurement is particularly susceptible to corruption. Corruption in public procurement increases the value of public contracts by up to 50% (in some situations even more), and in addition to financial losses, the damage caused by the lower quality of public services provided can have other unforeseeable consequences, even the loss of human lives.

Therefore, a strong and transparent public procurement system is crucial to prevent corruption in this area.

Transparency International BiH, for many years, has been engaged in improving the public procurement system in Bosnia and Herzegovina, through the following activities:

• Analysis of situation and creation of recommendations for improving the legal framework and implementation of the Law on Public Procurement in BiH;
• Cooperation on strengthening the capacity of institutions in public procurement system in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
• Creating coalitions with other interested parties – non-governmental organizations and the business sector, in order to more successfully advocate for the improvement of the system;
• Providing legal assistance to damaged bidders in specific procurement procedures within the Center for Providing Legal Assistance in the fight against corruption;
• Organizing and participating in trainings for contracting authorities, bidders, non-governmental organizations and the media, on relevant regulations and public procurement practices.

In May 2015, Transparency International BiH submitted to the competent institutions a proposal for amendments to the Law on Public Procurement, refering to:

• Increasing transparency and supervision through detailed regulations on the obligation to publish procurement plans and reports on their execution for each public institution
• Prevention of abuses through stricter provisions on conflicts of interest and restrictions on contract conclusion between related parties
• Strengthening responsibility through increasing sanctions for violations of the Law on Public Procurement