Source: Nedeljni Telegraf
It is well known that in every country the field of public procurement represents, regarding possible abuses and corruption, a neuralgic part of the system. In our country annually a couple of hundreds of public procurement contracts are concluded, and their total weight is measured in hundreds of millions, that is, in billions of euros - says Rodoljub Sabic, Republic Commissioner for Information of Public Importance, and explains:- I think that as a country in post-Milosevic's period we have done a lot in the field of public procurements. New public procurement regulations have been passed, compromised and outdated negotiation system has been significantly eliminated, and that is the system of direct deals. I think that the public is not completely aware of useful effects in application of those regulations and in the work of the Public Procurement Administration, that is, the Commission for Protection of the Rights of Tenderers in Public Procurement Tenders. Annual savings are several hundred million euros. Of course that is only one side of the medal. Because there is surely space to save maybe still as much.
- At least two things are obvious that we should do in order to succeed. As first, very important state mechanism for control of legality and adequacy of expenditures from public funds should be established and activated, which we still lack. And as second, we have to quickly and continuously expand the access area for the public regarding all information pertaining to public procurements. The first thing of course has to do with the fact that we do not have State Auditing Institution, although according to the valid law we should have had it long time ago. The effects achieved by the Public Procurement Administration and by the Commission for Protection of the Right of Tenderers mostly pertain to phases before conclusion of the Contract. State Auditing Institution would provide significant effects in later phases.
- Besides that, we still insufficiently use the publicity, that is, freedom to access information, as an efficient tool in fight against abuses and corruption. It is very important that the power should recognize this anti-corruption potential in the right way. One should try to make the publicity a rule, that all information regarding use of public funds should be available to the public, even before some journalist or a citizen asks specifically for that.
