Attache at the Delegation of the European Union to Montenegro, Ms. Eleonora Formagnana, in a working visit to Public Procurement Administration

In premises of the Public Procurement Administration, on 10 December 2015, a meeting was held with the representative of the EU Delegation to Montenegro, Ms. Eleonora Formagnana, the Attache at the EU Delegation in the Cooperation Sector. The meeting was chaired by the Director of the Administration, PhD Mersad Mujević.

The topic of discussion and interest was the current position of Montenegro at its path towards European integration in the field of public procurement policy, notably the status of the negotiating position of Montenegro in Chapter 5 – Public Procurement, also the activities regarding the preparation of the Strategy for Development of Public Procurement for the period 2016-2020, as well as the activities on the further implementation of the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA) program at the WTO, the e-procurement and other issues.

With regard to the importance of the moment for Montenegro in the process of its  accession to the EU when it comes to public procurement, Mr. Mujević stated that public procurement is an important component of each modern economy. In the course of previous years, a good management over public procurement became a key indicator of good governance and progress of the country. Its significance for social and economic development has been reflected in the fact that the value of public procurement has a remarkable share in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of each country  (10-20%).

Coordination between national public procurement systems of the member states is one of the most important instruments for existence of the internal market and removal of barriers for free trade within the EU. The reform of EU Directives on public procurement provided for a more intense use of public procurement as an instrument for promotion of a sustainable development, which is achieved through respect of high social and environmental criteria  as well as increasing the availability of public procurement processes for the small and medium enterprises.

The negotiations in this chapter were opened on 18 December 2013 at the Intergovernmental conference and on that occasion the European Commission defined for Montenegro three comprehensive and complex final benchmarks, for fulfillment of which it was necessary to plan and undertake a range of activities, envisage a set of legal modifications, strategic documents and reports in order to monitor the progress of the entire system.

Montenegro shall harmonize its entire legislative system for public procurement with the EU acquis in all areas, with a special focus on the area of concessions, public-private partnerships (PPP) and the procurement in the area of defense.

Montenegro shall set up adequate administrative and institutional capacities at all levels to ensure implementation of the laws before its EU accession.

This implies in particular:

  • Implementation of the Strategy for Development of the Public Procurement System and action plans for its realization in purpose of strengthening the administrative capacities, including adequate trainings at all levels,
  • Preparation of practical tools for monitoring (including administrative rules, instructions, manuals and standard contract documents),
  • Strengthening of control mechanisms which are necessary for ensuring that the system is reliable, including good supervision and an increased transparency of the phase of execution of public contracts based on systematic evaluation of risk with the control over vulnerable sector and procedures as a priority,
  • Efficient functioning of the legal protection system, including legal protection in areas of concessions, PPPs and the area of defense,
  • Measures/activities related to prevention and fight against corruption and conflict of interest in public procurement field, at both state and local levels.

Montenegro must demonstrate a good balance of results of fair and transparent functioning of the public procurement system which ensures value for money, competition and an efficient prevention from corruption.

Activities on fulfillment of final benchmarks are numerous and they all either commenced or are planned, defined by the time limits and submitted to the Government for information. Some of them include the following:

  • Adoption of new Law on Public-Private Partnerships,
  • Drafting of new Public Procurement Law (PPL), with a deadline for its adoption by the Government, according to plans, being the I quarter of 2017, and it would be harmonized with the new set of Directives of 2014 regulating this area,
  • Establishment of an electronic public procurement system, with estimated value of EUR 1.65 million, through the Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA) 2014,
  • Development of the Strategy for Development of the Public Procurement System for the period 2016-2020.

Director of the PPA, Mr. Mujević stated the importance and quality of the cooperation with representatives of the European Commission in Montenegro which has been reflected in the support to strengthening of both administrative and technical capacities of the PPA.

The meeting was also attended by the Assistant Director of the PPA, Ms. Mara Bogavac and Mr. Antonio Krcalović on behalf of the Ministry of Finance.
 

 

PR Service of the Public Procurement Administration