Improving Public Procurement is a five-year activity that will strengthen the management and oversight of the public procurement process. The activity will improve the planning, tendering, and implementation of public procurement; and help ensure that legal enforcement and oversight of the public procurement process is more effective. By helping public institutions to increasingly act in the public interest, the activity will increase the resiliency of democratic actors and contribute to USAID’s overall goal of a more prosperous and democratic Serbia committed to European integration and self-reliance. 

IMPROVING PUBLIC PROCUREMENT

 Improving Public Procurement is a five-year activity that will strengthen the management and oversight of the public procurement process. The activity will improve the planning, tendering, and implementation of public procurement; and help ensure that legal enforcement and oversight of the public procurement process is more effective. By helping public institutions to increasingly act in the public interest, the activity will increase the resiliency of democratic actors and contribute to USAID’s overall goal of a more prosperous and democratic Serbia committed to European integration and self-reliance.

 ACTIVITIES

 ● Provide assistance to approximately 30 municipalities to strengthen their procurement planning and the professionalization of local procurement officers.

 ● Develop a local index that will rank municipal performance in the procurement process, including practices related to citizen involvement in procurement        planning and oversight.

 ● Strengthen the Public Procurement’s Office capacity to monitor public procurements. 

● Identify trends and anomalies in procurement processes and develop predictive fraud risk metrics to help prevent, detect and prosecute non-compliance. ● Help the Commission for the Protection of Bidders’ Rights and the Administrative Court to define EU-aligned improvements to protect bidders’ rights         during the bidding process. 

● Develop a multi-year training plan for prosecutors and the courts to support their ability to better understand the Public Procurement Law and detect related violations. 

● Create an annual Changemaker Award to celebrate individuals, businesses, and investigative journalists in their fight against corruption in public procurement. 

● Support civil society and investigative journalists’ procurement watchdog efforts on all levels. 

EXPECTED RESULTS

 ● Public procurement planning is well informed, aligned with the budget, and includes accurate cost estimates. 

● Opportunities for corruption and mismanagement are reduced.

 ● Legal enforcement of public procurement rules is more effective. 

● Government and non-government organizations oversight of public procurements is improved. 

Original source can be found here.