The European Commission, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and also the Open Contracting Partnership are actually joining forces to improve the quality as well as transparency of public tenders co funded by EU funds in Greece and Poland. Because of their support, two pilot projects are going to provide expertise as well as hands-on support to public authorities in both places, with a focus on digital innovation.
By promoting the bright usage of open information and development, the 2 pilots should help public administrations to much better plan, implement and keep an eye on the procurement of succeeds, services and goods. It will improve the usage of public resources and improve opportunities for businesses, particularly for little and medium companies (SMEs). Furthermore, because of a cooperation with local civil society organisations, this initiative will in addition favour transparency of public investing as well as stimulate citizens’ participation in the monitoring of investments with an immediate impact on the community, for example investments in sustainability, local development and social inclusion.
The two pilot projects
In Greece, the project is going to aim at consolidating as well as integrating all databases into an individual wise public contract register. This will make it possible for online access for citizens and bidders, improve quality of facts and facilitate the use of data driven analytical tools for checking the procurement process.
In Poland, the first step will help support Polish national and local authorities to bring in open details in public procurement and boost automated consolidation, standardisation, and collection of procurement information on all tenders.
The two pilots are going to run until the conclusion of 2021 and the outcomes of theirs will be disseminated in order to ensure a successful roll out in some other Member States.
Commissioner for Reforms and Cohesion, Elisa Ferreira, said: “In the programming phase 2021-2027, Cohesion policy will will begin to help Member States as well as regions in their economic recovery following the coronavirus pandemic, as well as boosting competitiveness through brand new investments in innovation and research, digital transition and the implementation of the European Greenish Deal agenda. Through the use of brand new technologies, national and local public authorities handling EU funds will be able to devote public money better ensuring the best possible results for citizens and businesses”.
Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, added: “Transparency in public procurement is crucial to ensure efficiency of public investments, in line with the EU strategic policy goals aiming at a healthier, digital and much more resilient Europe. Public authorities can rely on the EU’s public procurement framework, tools like the electronic procurement devices and open data for an effective use of public funds.”
The EBRD Vice-President, Pierre Heilbronn commented: “The EBRD is dedicated to help legal and institutional reforms aimed at seeing to it that procurement laws and methods are contemporary, in line with international standards and also can swiftly respond to emerging challenges. Together with Open Contracting Partnership, we’re sharing the experience of successful civil society procurement overseeing based on open data. The joint efforts of ours aim to generate a framework for enlisting civil society organisations to support public procurement reforms and make use of open details to watch procurement.”
Background
In the context of the next long-range EU budget, more when compared with €370 billion coming from Cohesion policy funds will be invested to support the green and digital transitions belonging to the Member States. Every year, public authorities in the EU spend about 14 % of GDP on public procurement, amounting to much more than €1.9 trillion. Nearly fifty percent of Cohesion policy funding is channelled through public procurement. The Commission has promoted a series of initiatives aimed at helping Member States to improve the way administrations & beneficiaries work with public procurement for EU investments. These include the Integrity Pacts to make sure transparent and efficient more tenders and also safeguarding EU taxpayers’ money. The Commission additionally had taken behavior to facilitate citizen engagement for much better governance as well as effective Cohesion policy investments.
