Having in mind the significance of protection of rights in public procurement procedures, as extremely important segment of public procurement system in Republic of Serbia, the project supported and financed by European Union and aimed at strengthening of capacities of Republic Commission for Protection of Rights in Public Procurement Procedures, getting familiar with European practice in the field of public procurement and further harmonization with EU acquis has been initiated.
At Klub Poslanika (Members of Parliament Club) on 11th March, 2016 the meeting was held to mark the beginning of the activities related to the EU project “Fostering of Protection of Rights in Public Procurement Procedures in Republic of Serbia”. It was attended by the representatives of local and foreign institutions and organizations, as well as representatives of the Embassies (Delegation of EU to the Republic of Serbia, European Integration Office, Anti – Corruption Agency, OSCE, UNDP, EBRD, World Bank, Embassy of Republic of Slovenia, United Kingdom Embassy…)
Twinning Light project of European Union is a sixth months long project of technical support, highly important for harmonizing with EU Directives, especially bearing in mind that protection of rights of bidders and public interest is an important subchapter within Negotiating Chapter 5: public procurement, the “opening” of which is expected in the second half of 2016. The value of the project is 250.000 EUR and it is conducted by Slovenian National Review Commission for Reviewing Public Procurement Procedures, the institution that is responsible for appeals related to public procurement in Republic of Slovenia. The project consists of three components:
– harmonization of legal framework in the field of public procurement with the EU Directives and European Court of Justice case law
– education of the employees of Republic Commission aimed at efficient realization of the work activities, bearing in mind the advanced practice and experience of the administration of EU member states
– getting general and expert public familiar with the authorities of Republic Commission and raising the awareness on the importance of its decisions.
One of the important results of the project will be the recommendations related to the adoption of the new Public Procurement Law, which will be fully harmonized with the new EU Directives in the field of public procurement, and whose adoption is planned for the last quarter of 2017 according to the Strategy of Public Procurement Development.
The meeting was opened by Tanja Miscevic, Chief Negotiator for Serbian Accession Negotiations with EU. On behalf of the EU Delegation to Serbia Mr. Steffen Hudolin, Head of Operations addressed the present. The Ambassador of Republic of Slovenia to Republic of Serbia, Vladimir Gasparic, Hana Hukic, President of Republic Commission for Protection of Rights in Public Procurement Procedures and Borut Smrdel President of National Review Commission for Reviewing Public Procurement Procedures of Republic of Slovenia also spoke at the occasion. Branislav Cvetkovic, Head of the Project on behalf of the beneficiary and Tadeja Pusnar, Head of the project on behalf of the member state institution conducting the project presented specific project activities.
