In order to strengthen transparency in public procurement, namely the implementation of the Law on Access to Public Documents and the handling of requests for access to public documents related to tendering processes, in harmony with the Law on Public Procurement, the Information and Privacy Agency in cooperation with The Public Procurement Regulatory Commission, with the support of the USAID Kosovo Municipal Integrity project, organized the conference on the topic “Strengthening transparency in public procurement”.
Regarding the importance of transparency in public procurement, the Commissioner for Information and Privacy, Mrs. Krenare Sogojeva-Dermaku emphasized that transparency in public procurement is one of the main pillars of advancing the accountability of institutions and that requests for access to public documents must be handled in full harmony with the legal regulations of the Law on Access to Public Documents and the Law on Procurement Public.
The Chairman of the Public Procurement Regulatory Commission, Mr. Osman Vishaj said that the KRPP will provide all information and will take actions so that requests for access to public documents for procurement processes are handled in full harmony with the legislation in force, emphasizing the importance of guidelines that would strengthen the transparency and accountability of institutions.
Director of the “Integrity of Kosovo Municipalities” Project of USAID, Mrs. Maia Gogoladze also emphasized the need for strengthening transparency and accountability in public procurement as well as increasing inter-institutional cooperation.
Ms. also spoke about the role of independent institutions in the field of public procurement. Vjosa Gradinaj Mexhuani, Chairperson of the Public Procurement Review Body (PRB), Mr. Yll Buleshkaj, Director of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (APK) Mr. Bezat Halilaj, Deputy Auditor at the National Audit Office (ZKA) and Mrs. Neime Binaku Isufi, Chairman of the Competition Authority.
The representatives of the institutions discussed the challenges of implementing access to information and increasing accountability in tendering processes during the implementation of requests for access to public documents, as one of the mechanisms of preventing corruption, ensuring competition in the supervision of tendering processes and increasing audit mechanisms related to the process of accountability and transparency during public procurement procedures.
AIP Commissioner, Ms. Krenare Sogojeva Dermaku asked the Public Procurement Regulatory Commission to, based on the institution’s legal scope, take actions to raise the quality of institutions’ transparency in public procurement procedures and provide access to information according to legal requirements and obligations.
The representatives of the institutions participating in this roundtable agreed to continue cooperation in harmonizing the legislation on Access to Public Documents and the Law on Public Procurement.