Presentation given by Svetlana Razic of the Serbian PPO at the 7th Regional Public Procurement Conference held in Vlora on 9-10 Sept 2014.

1. Practical Serbian experiences in PP reforms and in implementing PP rules- institutional set-up
Svetlana Razic, Public Procurement Office
SIGMA/Vlora, 10 September 2014

2. EU MODELS OF CENTRAL PP STRUCTURES
•Centralised or dual-centralised (Hungary, Poland, etc.)
•Semi-centralised (Germany, Luxembourgh)
•Decentralised (Finland, Portugal)

3. EXISTING PUBLIC PROCUREMENT SET- UP-CENTRALISED STRUCTURE
2 most important institutions in PP field:
•Public Procurement Office-PPO (Central Policy Body)
•Republic Comission for Protection of Rights in PP Procedures
In the field of external control of public procurement
•Supreme Audit Institution
In the field of centralised procurement
•Administration for Joint Services of the Republican Bodies-CPB (AJSRB)
*Limited competences for Ministry of Finance-MoF (unlike under previous PPL)

4. PREVIOUS PUBLIC PROCUREMENT SET- UP-DUAL CENTRALISED
PREVIOUS PPL-ADOPTED IN DECEMBER 2009
•Public Procurement Office (70%) competences
•Ministry of Finance (30%) competences including the supervision over the implementation of the PPL and drafting of the PPL and the bylaws
•Republic Commission for Protection of Rights in Public Procurement Procedures (main review body)
•THIS MODEL WITH SHARED COMPETENCES BETWEEN PPO AND MoF SHOWED UP TO BE INEFFICIENT

5. EXISTING SET UP IN THE FIELD OF PPP AND CONCESSIONS
•Central Policy Body ?
Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications- existing or Ministry of Economy-proposed in the Strategy
•Republic Commission for Protection of Rights in Public Procurement Procedures (review body for concessions and PPP)
•Commission for PPP (registers PPP and approves PPP projects-inter-ministerial body, no staff)
•Public Procurement Office-coordinates this area within (EU)Negotiation Chapter 5

6. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES OF PP REFORM*
•To build and develop a uniform PP system in the Republic of Serbia
•To strengthen competition in PP market
•To reduce irregularities in PP system
•To increase cost-effectiveness and efficiency of public procurements
•Promotion and stimulation of environmental and social aspect in PP, participation of SMEs and innovation
•To fully harmonize Serbian regulations with EU Acquis in the field of PP and to fully implement them in practice
*set up in the proposal of the new Strategy

7. ACTION PLAN*: STRENGTHENING INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
•Some activities to be emphasised:
•Providing PPO with HR, spatial and material- financial capacities (17 new employees)
•Providing AJSRB (CPB) with HR, spatial and material-financial capacities (11 new employees)
•Problems: administrative capacities of PPO were not broadened in line with new competences in the PPL + outflow of the employees from PPO (20% of the total number of employees since 1st April 2013)
*Action Plan is an integral part of PP Development Strategy

8. PPO-COMPETENCES*
•Primary policy and legislative function
•Secondary policy and regulatory functions
•International co-ordination functions
•Monitoring and control functions
•Advisory function
•Publication and information function
•Professionalisation and capacity strengthening
•Development and procurement co-ordination function
*see Sigma Paper No 40, pp 14

9. PPO-LEGISLATIVE FUNCTION
•PPL says: „PPO participates in the preparation of regulations in the field of public procurement“.
•Law on public administration says: „PPO submits the draft of the PPL to the Government”.
•The Government finally submits the proposal of the PPL to the Parliament

10. E-PROCUREMENT
•1ST phase (e-notification) successfully completed: Public Procurement Portal http://portal.ujn.gov.rs/
•2nd phase (e-tendering) yet to be initiated: pilot e- auctions
•EU assistance inevitable
•Light EU assistance through forthcoming (2015) TA project "Prevention and Fight Against Corruption” (predominantly drafting of analyses to assess the situation in the area of e-procurement in Serbia)

11. E-PROCUREMENT: INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK
•Public Procurement Office (PP Portal, general policy in e-procurement)
•Administration for Joint Services of Republican Bodies (e-procurement leased with centralised procurement)
•Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications (e-government, e-commerce, e-signature..etc.)

12. PUBLIC PROCUREMENT PORTAL
•PP Portal according to the PPL-2008
•Testing-phase started during the year 2008
•Fully operational since January 2009 till April 2013
•PP Portal according to the PPL-2012-”New” Portal
•Operational since April 2013, when the application of the new PPL started

13. NOVELTIES : PP WEB-PORTAL/INCREASED TRANSPARENCY
•mandatory use of CPV and search-mode that use CPV codes as key-words for search of notices
•mandatory publishing of tender documents
•mandatory publishing of small-value PP notices
•publishing of so called „negative-refferences“
•publishing of prior opinions for negotiated procedure

15. ROLE OF E-PROCUREMENT IN MONITORING OF PP
•Data gathering: Program for electronic records in public procurement
•Planning of procurement: Procurement planning software

16. KEEPING RECORDS IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT
Article 132 of PPL regulates:
•content of PP reports
•way of keeping records in PP
•obligation of PPO to aggregate quarterly reports on concluded procedures and contracts based on quarterly reports submitted by CAs
Rulebook on content of PP reports and keeping records in public procurement defines the abovementioned more detailed

17. PROGRAM FOR ELECTRONIC RECORDS IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT
•In July 2013, PPO put on its web-site new software for electronic records in PP
•Use of the software is mandatory for CAs in order to submit quarterly reports
•Software was developed in line with PPL and the Rulebook
•Key novelty: monitoring of contract modifications

18. PROCUREMENT PLANNING SOFTWARE
•Introduced in January 2014
•Public Procurement Planning software encompasses:
•Development of procurement plans
•Amendments of procurement plans
•Reports on execution of procurement plans
•Submission of reports to SAI and PPO

19. PROCUREMENT PLANNING SOFTWARE (2)
•In developing the software, PPO worked together with all the categories of CAs (state owned enterprises, local level, healthcare…)
•Through this tool, PPO will particularly monitor justifiability of exemptions from PPL and obligation to appoint civil supervisor in PP higher than 1 bill. RSD
•Improvement of application is planned to be completed by the end of 2014

20. DEVELOPMENT OF PROFESSIONAL SKILL OF EMPLOYEES
•Education and development of skills of its employees are one of the priorities in the PPO
•PPO also organizes training for other regulatory bodies, agencies and authorities
•International cooperation and expertise:
•EU Twinning and TA assistance
•TAIEX training (workshops and study/expert visits)
•SIGMA continuous support (materials, expert assistance)
•ITC/ILO (ToT in 2011/2012)
•Cooperation with RESPA
•OSCE continuous support
•Training related to the Negotiations with EU (PLAC,GIZ)

21. DEVELOPMENT OF PROFESSIONAL SKILL OF EMPLOYEES (2)
•Interagency cooperation and training
•Cooperation with other regulatory bodies (Republic Commission, SAI..)
•Cooperation with other ministries
•Cooperation with judiciary and police
•Regional cooperation
•Bylaw/regulation on the manner and program of expert training and the manner of taking exams for public procurement officials-applicable since 1 August 2014 - regulates certification in PP

22. PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: FURTHER DIRECTIONS
•New EU Directives and in particular emphasis will be put on:
•E-procurement (including standard forms for publishing of notices)
•“green” procurement
•Social considerations in PP
•Economic aspects in PP (competitiveness etc.) particularly promotion of SMEs’ participation in PP procedures
•Familiarization with ECJ practices
•Specific non-procurement knowledge (project management, leadership-skills, organizational issues, EU institutions etc.)

23. •THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!