Changes are definitely ahead - In which way do political parties plan to reform public procurement system?

The most frequent suggestion of local businessmen is that the state does not need to provide any assistance, but only to stop obstructing them. Most of them see the public procurement system as the biggest problem. The annual value of public procurements in Serbia is RSD 350 billion. However, there are more and more tenders and less and less bidders. Among the main problems faced and listed by participants in tenders are corruption, poorly prepared documentation, inadequate availability of public procurements, unfair market competition and difficulties in collecting payments.

eKapija, as the leading tender publisher and a partner of Europe`s Tender Service group, works on making Serbia an open market organized in line with European standards and with clearly defined rules.

Wishing to introduce our readers to the solutions and amendments that can be expected in the field of public procurement regulations after the elections, we`ve launched a survey that was supposed to cover all parties and movements that have nominated their candidates for the 2012 parliamentary elections.

Although most parties in the election campaign put accent on the economy, the preservation of jobs and the creation of new ones, we`ve received a response from only four out of 12 polled parties and movements.

Our poll focuses on the current state, concrete measures that the parties/movements plan to take to improve the system of public procurements in Serbia, and domestic or foreign models confirming or providing an idea for the concept and time frame for the implementation of their strategies/plans.

A response has been submitted by the Democratic Party (DS), the Reform Party, the United Regions of Serbia (URS) and the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) (in order of response submission). The Serbian Radical Party (SRS), Preokret, the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS), Dveri, the Alliance of Vojvodina Hungarians, the Party for Democratic Action of Sandzak and the Movement of Workers and Farmers have not submitted their response to date.

A coalition led by the Socialist Party of Serbia did not submit a response but only a short comment:

- We are a coallition of parties promoting our concrete results in this election campaign and we do not give unrealistic socioeconomic promises.

TRANSPARENCY, LESS PAPERWORK, PUBLIC PROCUREMENT CENTRALIZATION

The Democratic Party sees a solution to the problem in already proposed amendments and supplements to the Law on Public Procurements (LPP). The Government of the Republic of Serbia has adopted these amendments and forwarded them to the National Parliament as a draft law. Aforementioned amendments to the LPP primarily envisage a significant improvement of transparency in several ways. The possibility of conducting negotiations outside the public eye will be reduced by publishing all procurements, even those of small value, and procurement plans on the Portal. In addition, the plan is also to cut the number of exceptions, that is, situations to which the LPP does not apply. Also, there should be a higher level of control of additional construction works through better definition of deficient and excess work, which will significantly reduce possible abuses in that field. The centralization of public procurements is also in the pipeline, and it should lead to substantial savings in the state budget.

These proposals have been designed on the basis of the experience that Danish experts gained while implementing the EU Twinning Project. DS also used objections to the LPP stated by representatives of the economy, that is, SCC, FIC and AmCham.

The plan is to adopt the amendments to the LPP within the first 100 days of the rule of the new government formed by DS, and then to further improve the system of public procurements in line with the action plan of the Public Procurement Development Strategy in the Republic of Serbia, which also envisages the introduction of electronic public procurements as the culmination of transparency and efficiency in the public procurement system.

LEAVE TENDERS TO THE OPPOSITION

The Reform Party does not want to waste our readers' time on describing the current state and numerous deformations in this field. In their opinion, the supervision of public procurements should be done by the opposition. They want to have managing boards appointed by the authorities and supervisory boards by the opposition.

As they say, a similar idea was presented to the public by former Prime Minister Zoran Zivkovic in certain interviews. They also comment that Zivkovic is not a member of their party.

The implementation of this strategy could practically start right away, even without changes in the legislation, if the ruling parties showed such political will.

CLEAR SCHEME OF JURISDICTION AND ORGANIZATION IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT PROCEDURE

The United Regions of Serbia sees a solution in a clear scheme of jurisdiction and organization in the public procurement procedure, reduction of formalism and unnecessary bureaucracy, promotion of the principle of competitiveness and the "value for money" principle, stronger institutional framework and political concensus for an effective punishment of abuses.

URS plans to reexamine decisions introducing a centralized system because they allow a single organization to negotiate, control and supervise public procurements.

URS believes that the introduction of declaration by bidders, as a proof of compliance with the requirements for participation in a tender, represents an important step. URS will advocate the introduction of electronic public procurements and insist on the education and licensing of officers.

Serbia must apply the EU directives that are both a need and a requirement. But, as they say, that does not mean a mere compliance with the directives, but also harmonization with national regulations through the utilization of experiences of the member countries that have already finished that process.

According to the plan they presented, URS can complete the introduction of aforementioned procedures until the end of 2014.

REFORMAMA DO UŠTEDE OD OKO 74 MILIJARDI DINARA

Srpska napredna stranka navodi da će najpre usvojiti Predlog zakona koji je, kako kažu, podnela Narodnoj skupštini 7. februara, a kojim je između ostalog predviđeno: uvođenje nabavki koje se finansiraju iz stranih kredita, delimičnu centralizaciju, uvođenje spiska negativnih referenci, povećanje ovlašćenja Uprave za javne nabavke, promena sastava i načina rada Republičke komisije za zaštitu prava.

Osim donošenja novog zakona, ova stranka će nastojati da podstakne i pomogne lokalnim samoupravama da osnivaju specijalizovana tela za nabavke, koja bi za jednu ili više opština sprovodila nabavke uz uvođenje elektronskog sistema u sve faze nabavke, od zahteva do plaćanja.

Takođe, planiraju i donošenje nove strategije nabavki.

Prilikom izrade Predloga zakona korišćena su iskustva zemalja u regionu kao i članica EU, kažu u SNS i navode nekoliko primera - Ex ante kontrola pregovaračkog postupka po ugledu na Poljsku, deo postupka zaštite prava po ugledu na Slovačku (arbitri), debrifing (razgovori ponuđača i komisije nakon okončanja postupka) po ugledu na Veliku Britaniju, obim centralizacije nabavki i određena rešenja u vezi elektronske nabavke po ugledu na Portugal.

SNS smatra da se primenom Zakona, kao i preduzimanjem drugih predloženih mera, može nakon dve godine primene, uštedeti oko 74 milijardi dinara na godišnjem nivou. Procena i analiza je rađena na osnovu podataka o javnim nabavkama za 2010. godinu.