Conference on Public Procurement Held in BiH: Strengthening Oversight Key to Preventing Corruption

Sarajevo, 3. March 2021 – Transparency International in Bosnia and Herzegovina (TI BIH) organized a conference “Improvement of the Public Procurement System in Bosnia and Herzegovina ” on which the topic was the current proposal for amendments to the Law on Public Procurement adopted by the BiH Council of Ministers in February this year.

Transparency International in BiH welcomed the adopted changes as it started the process of improving this area, but suggested that sanctions for violating the law be tightened so that they would serve to deter actors from illegal activities. Also, TI BiH proposes to strengthen the capacity of the BiH Public Procurement Agency already now, as well as to enable mechanisms for monitoring and supervision over the entire process. In addition, there is room to improve transparency, especially those of public procurement procedures that take place under accelerated procedures. TI BiH’s proposals also went in the direction of strengthening mechanisms for the prevention of corruption and the prevention of conflicts of interest.

– Our proposal focused on increasing the transparency of the public procurement process and we insisted on strengthening the integrity of mechanisms for preventing conflicts of interest that are in line with EU directives, said Aleksandra Martinovic, chairwoman of the Transparency International Assembly in BiH.

It was pointed out at the conference that the amendments to the existing law are only the first step in the field of corruption prevention in this area in order to unblock the process of European integration, but that the adoption of a new law in the coming period is necessary.

The Ambassador of the United States of America to BiH, Eric Nelson, welcomed the efforts to improve the Law and expressed satisfaction with the inclusion of the non-governmental sector in the process. However, he stressed that BiH is the second most corrupt country in Europe, a major obstacle to the country’s progress.

More than three billion KM is spent on procurement in BiH each year, meaning hundreds of millions of marks are likely to be lost due to mismanagement, corruption and other illegal activities. That money, which comes from BiH taxpayers, could be better used to improve the lives of BiH citizens, rather than enriching corrupt officials and their friends.

Johan Sattler, Special Representative of the EU Delegation to BiH, also addressed the audience, emphasizing that a large amount of money is lost in BiH due to corruption in public procurement and stressed that the amendment to the Law on Launching BiH’s Right to EU Integration. It was emphasized that the improvement of this Law is one of the 14 key priorities identified by the European Union in its Opinion on Bosnia and Herzegovina’s application for membership.

Director of the Public Procurement Agency of BiH Tarik Rahić explained that the three key amendments to the law relate to the consolidation of public procurement plans, preliminary market checks and digitalization of the entire process according to EU standards.

The representative of the BiH Complaints Review Office, Siniša Tešanović, pointed out that the proposed changes did not offer a solution that would reduce the large number of unfounded complaints, which would improve the work of the KRC. Representatives of the BiH Parliamentary Assembly Dusanka Majkic and Predrag Kozul, as well as the Directorate for European Integration Amira Lazovic, agreed that the law could be improved by amending the parliamentary procedure.