May 13, 2024: When Maia Sandu won election as President of Moldova at the end of 2020 she wrote on Facebook that she hoped the result would mark “the end of the reign of thieves in Moldova.”
The fight against corruption that President Sandu has been waging is not just a rejection of years of corrupt oligarch power in this tiny country that borders Ukraine, but a vital requirement for Moldova’s membership in the European Union.
Moldova’s President Maia Sandu
PTF’s multi-year project is an important component in Moldova’ struggle against corruption.
PTF is playing a key advisory role in support of the Moldovan civil society organization, the Institute for Development and Social Initiatives (IDIS) “Viitorul”, to counter one of the largest sources of bribery and crime in the country – crooked public procurement contracting.
“We are at a key stage in this important project that is securing successes in increasing public procurement transparency through citizen monitoring and reporting,” says Hady Fink, PTF Project Manager. He adds, “We have witnessed significant progress throughout this multi-year project, and we are confident that our efforts in strengthening Civil Society capacity and the mechanisms and tools to support their efforts will bring about meaningful results, together with IDIS, as the project moves into its final year to mid-2025.”
Hady Fink noted that training programs, engagement of journalists, securing publicity for transparency in public contracting and establishing effective digital platforms are some of the key goals of the project that are being attained. The project is being funded by the US State Department.
Training civil society organizations to monitor public procurement and to report on abuses in efforts to heighten transparency and accountability is a leading project area for PTF. PTF Advisors with extensive experience in this field have worked in numerous countries and the successful progress in Moldova, for example, follows the completion of a highly successful PTF project in Ukraine.
A report from the Open Contracting Partnership and Spend Network estimates that globally governments spend $13 trillion a year on public contracts for goods, services and works. But less than 3% ($363 billion) is published openly. Opaque contracts that are missing information shut out businesses, journalists and civil society from analyzing and interrogating the data.
Current Project Status:
The current Project Phase 3 consists of four main components: 1. Subgrantee Monitoring. 2. Digital Platform. 3. Coalition Building. 4. Stakeholder Engagement and National Platform for Public Procurement (NPPP).
Subgrantee Monitoring: The first round of eight subgrants for the monitoring project were successful. The subgrantees formulated sixty-nine notifications and recommendations to government authorities and 231 reports on their activities. The grantees learned from their experiences and expressed a desire to do future monitoring. The second round of five subgrants is currently underway and is expected to finish later this year.
Digital Platform: A subcontractor (SensMedia) was selected to create and launch the Digital Platform, supervised by IDIS.
Coalition Building: The Coalition of Monitors has met three times. Participants included over 30 stakeholders with varied backgrounds and made recommendations to the government.
Stakeholder Engagement and National Platform for Public Procurement (NPPP): The inaugural meeting occurred in December 2023. Stakeholders included Moldovan national and local government organizations, as well as CSOs representing the Coalition. The Moldovan Ministry of Finance committed to systemic and organized participation of its representatives in the activities of the NPPP through the signing of a cooperation agreement with IDIS. The NPPP is scheduled to meet on a quarterly basis.
May 23, 2024: Moldova Project’s Public Procurement Monitoring Coalition held its 4th Working Meeting
April 5, 2024: Moldova: Second Working Session of the National Platform for Public Procurement
Please find more information on the project and our project partner here.
