ReSPA published the first public procurement Network for the West Balkans and during the period 15-16. July 2014 the first meeting was organized in the ReSPA premises in Danilovgrad.

Overall objective in establishing of the Network is to offer assistance and support to the countries such as the members of ReSPA and Kosovo through the procedure of developing sustainable system of public procurement with a view to prepare and encourage the implementation of the legal framework within the EU standards.
Namely, on the basis of the recommendations stemmed from previous activities that ReSPA had had with the most influential institutions in the public procurement system of Montenegro and of other countries, the necessity of networking in the field of public procurement was recognized covering strategic and operational level.
Public procurement Network involved the policy makers – directors / the heads of the public procurement institutions, agencies, ministries in charge of the development of the public procurement system as well the directors / the heads of the other key institutions which are part of the public procurement system ( monitoring bodies, central bodies for procurement) aiming to ensure political support for developing national public procurement systems, required institutional and legal framework and long-term strategic goals.
This two-day event gathered 14 participants, ie 2 representatives out of the following countries: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo.
During its work the participants were informed of the latest achievements at EU level regarding public procurement, such as of the new Directive on public procurement 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February, 2014 and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC, the Directive 2014/25/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February, 2014 on procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors and repealing Directive 2004/17/EC, then a new Directive 2014/23/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on the award of concession contracts.
In addittion, it was emphasized that the Directives and recent achievements regarding the new adoption of the Directives 2014 on public procurement at the EU level are important factor for development of the national systems of public procurement which require additional effort and higher level of knowledge of all those involved in the public procurement system, particularly when it comes to the transposition of the directives into the national public procurement systems.
All the participants, representatives of the countries and members of the ReSPA and Kosovo demonstrated in their individual presentations the key challenges they encounter themselves when it comes to the development of the national public procurement systems under EU accession on the basis of the previous and current accession negotiations, highlighted the obstacles and challenges in the further development of national capacity for the purpose of implementing and strengthening the public procurement system.
They expressed significant interest and motivation relating the subject-matter of the Network discussing actively on each topic with the colleagues from the region, exchanging views, making great conribution regarding the best practice recommendations during the session, recognizing the needs, improving the Network and finding the best cooperation method, bringing up the numerous ideas on further operation and the development of the Network activities.

Program