Blog

Carolina Ungureanu, IDIS Deputy Director and the Project Manager, said “The coalition’s mission is to consolidate and coordinate the efforts of civil society in monitoring public procurement. The coalition will ensure synergy of the civil society public procurement monitoring efforts by identifying problems and proposing solutions to the relevant public authorities. The aim of these efforts is to influence public policies; increase transparency and integrity of public procurement; ensure efficiency in the use of public money; minimize the risks of public authorities; and provide citizens with quality public goods, works, and services.” “We hope that the coalition will build a robust infrastructure for monitoring public procurement in the Republic of Moldova. The coalition will develop the capacity of civil society through the exchange of experiences and ensure that the findings and recommendations from the monitoring activities contribute to the improvement of the public procurement system,” commented Hady Fink, PTF Project Manager.

Diana Enachi, IDIS Public Procurement Expert and Project Coordinator, stated “The coalition is a platform to make our voices heard and be stronger and have a greater impact on increasing the transparency and integrity of the public procurement sector. The coalition remains open to other organizations and monitors who want to join our efforts.” “We aim to contribute to the transparency of public procurement and come up with recommendations for improving procurement processes at all stages of implementation,” emphasized Vadim Ţurcan, IDIS Associate Expert.

The coalition members will be guided by a coalition strategy, as well as organization and operation regulations. These define the mission, purpose, and objectives of the coalition, which include:

• ensuring a participatory and inclusive discussion environment with systematic debates on issues in the public procurement field;

• developing a common civil society vision on the priorities of the national public procurement system;

• influencing the decision-making process in the public procurement field through active and transparent dialogue with regulatory authorities;

• explaining public policies pertaining to public procurement and monitoring and evaluation of their implementation;

• studying and discussing relevant European and international public procurement experiences;

• promoting transparency in the activities of public authorities whose work is related to public procurement;

• reviewing studies, analyses, research, and reports in the public procurement field; and

• participating in public procurement monitoring training sessions.

The members of the coalition will receive support from IDIS and PTF to apply the expertise, experience, advocacy campaigns, and recommendations formulated to improve public procurement in Moldova in a consolidated manner.

“We will have the opportunity to collaborate more and we will be a strong platform that will be able to submit policy proposals and initiate discussions with decision-makers and authorities to contribute to the improvement of the legal framework and the way in which legal provisions in the public procurement field are executed,” said Olga Diaconu, Project Coordinator at the Association for Efficient and Responsible Governance. Valeriu Rusu, Executive Director of Habitat Association, mentioned “We want to combine our efforts so that the taxpayers’ money is used in a positive way, which will contribute to the development of our communities.”

Emphasizing the importance of the procurement integrity coalition, Lilia Zaharia, Director of Transparency International Moldova, said “I am glad that you have this initiative to bring together civil society in order to highlight and combat illegalities in the public procurement field.” Dumitru Cimpoeş, President of the Feedback Association from Basarabeasca, mentioned “We do not know how public money is really spent. For this reason, we are motivated to monitor public procurement to ensure local transparency.”

“The educational field is really affected by corruption and, at the country level, we see a negative trend in the use of money, not taking priority needs into account. Through the coalition, we will join our efforts and maybe we will be able to stop this trend,” stated Ala Revenco, President of the Parents in Solidarity Public Association. Ion Bulmaga, an independent monitor, commented “Through my knowledge and experience, I want to contribute to the consolidation of the integrity of public procurement for greater transparency, the efficiency of public money, and the prevention of fraud and corruption in public procurement.”

The coalition members are encouraged to share their articles on public procurement monitoring, best practices, and results of recommendations proposed to public authorities. The materials developed and the recommendations formulated by the coalition will later be made publicly available and transmitted to decision-makers, contributing to the improvement of legislation, policies, and practices in the sector.