Programme: PHARE 2006
Partner country: REPUBLIC OF CROATIA
Area of Cooperation: PUBLIC PROCUREMENT – LEGAL PROTECTION
Twinning Light project
HR/2006/IB/FI/04TL
Title of the project:
“Further Development of State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures and Review System in the Republic of Croatia”
Proposed budget: 250.000 €
STANDARD TWINNING LIGHT PROJECT FICHE
1. Basic Information
1.1 Programme: PHARE 2006
1.2 Twinning Number:
1.3 Title: “Further Development of State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement
Procedures and Review System in the Republic of Croatia”
1.4 Sector: Public Procurement
1.5 Beneficiary country: Republic of Croatia
2. Objectives
2.1 Overall Objective:
The overall objective of the Project is to contribute to the development and strengthening of a sound and transparent public procurement review system in the Republic of Croatia, in accordance with EU standards and reducing the potential for fraud and corruption in public procurement.
2.2 Project purpose:
The purpose of this project is further development of the administrative capacity of the State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures and awareness rising about the new public procurement review system.
2.3 Contribution to National Development Plan/Cooperation agreement/Association Agreement/Action Plan
The project responds to the priorities set out in the 2007 National Programme for the Integration of the Republic of Croatia into the European Union (NPIEU). NPIEU defines as a short-term priority strengthening the co-ordination of policy-making and implementation of the coherent public procurement system through institutional strengthening of the State Commission. It further foresees administrative capacity building through training of State Commission staff regarding new PPA, concessions and PPP, especially regarding legal protection.
3. Description
3.1 Background and justification:
Public procurement in the Republic of Croatia is regulated by the Public Procurement Law (Official gazette 110/2007), which came into force on January 1st 2008. This law has taken largely into account the provisions of the acquis. There are eight by-laws to complement the Public Procurement Law.
In line with the Public Procurement Law, two separate institutions are responsible for public procurement in Croatia: the State Commission for the Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures (hereafter: State Commission) and the Public Procurement Office (PPO).
The PPO was effectively established by the Decree on establishing the Public Procurement Office of the Government Republic of Croatia (Official gazette 179/03) in November 2003.
From 13 March 2008, the Ministry of the Economy, Labour and Entrepreneurship took over the responsibility for the public procurement system from Public Procurement Office.
The Directorate for the Public Procurement System has been set up at the Ministry and is responsible for: the development, improvement and co-ordination of the entire public procurement system, proposing, preparation and coordination in the process of drafting acts and other public procurement regulations, and participating in the drafting of proposals for public procurement regulations, preparation of the starting points and normative basis for the accession of the Republic of Croatia to the European Union in the field of public procurement, analysis of the implementation of regulations in the public procurement system through preventive and instructive activities, filing request for the initiation of misdemeanour procedures , the preparation and implementation of education and training (seminars, workshops, counselling, and the like) for participants in public procurement; organisation of special (specialised) training programmes in the field of public procurement, administering of the Public Procurement Portal, monitoring of the Electronic Public Procurement Classifieds, and publishing of the e-Public Procurement Bulletin and professional publications, participation in applying of the IT technology in the public procurement system and electronic auction; cooperation with state bodies in the Republic of Croatia in order to achieve uniform interpretation and regular application of the public procurement system regulations, the collecting, recording, processing and analysis of public procurement data and submitting statistical reports, achieving international cooperation and the promotion of the public procurement system values. Directorate for the Public Procurement System consists of four departments: the Department for the Analysis of Public Procurement Procedures, the Department for the Development and Education of the Public Procurement System, the Department for Public Private Partnerships and the Department for Electronic Support to the Public Procurement System.
The new systematisation within the Directorate for the Public Procurement System envisages the total of 33 employees, while currently the Directorate for the Public Procurement System employs 20 staff. During 2008, the Directorate plans to fill in 11 vacancies by recruiting people with university qualifications pursuant to the Civil Servants Act, thus achieving full administrative capacity.
The Law on State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures (Official gazette 117/03) came into force in July 2003, establishing the State Commission as an independent Commission responsible to the Parliament. It is in charge of independent control of public procurement procedures within the scope of work and competence stipulated in the Public Procurement Law, especially in its Article 71.
The State Commission was effectively established in December 2003.
State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedure is established with the purpose of coordinating the Croatian public procurement system with legal tradition of the European Union, pursuant to obligations arising from the Stabilization and Accession Treaty.
According to its organization and jurisdiction, it follows that the State Commission has the characteristics of both judiciary and administrative body. The principles of legality and transparency, set out in the Public Procurement Act, apply to the structure and practice of the State Commission. Those principles are applied in the State Commission manner of acting and decision making, financing and the manner of members' appointment.
State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedure has five members, one of whom acts as the Head, and one as Deputy Head. Act on the State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedure stipulates conditions for candidates to be appointed the Head, or a member of the State Commission. Candidates for the State Commission membership must be Croatian nationals with university qualifications, ten years of experience at similar jobs, corresponding professional competence and at least three years of experience at jobs related to public procurement. The Head of the State Commission must be a law graduate, pass a bar examination, have at least six years of experience as a judge, Attorney General, Deputy Attorney General, public notary or a lawyer, or ten years of experience at jobs relating to law after having passed a bar examination. The same conditions are stipulated for the appointment of the County Court judges.
The State Commission passes decisions on cases under its jurisdiction at the council meetings. The Head or a member of the State Commission shall be exempt from participating in a case on her/his personal request or at the request by a third party should a conflict of interest be determined, or if there are other grounds for non-participation. Besides its members, the State Commission has expert services and the secretariat, which is clear from its organizational scheme. Labour relations of the employees are regulated by the Labour Act.
Manner of acting
State Commission passes written decisions and conclusions on cases under its jurisdiction at the council meetings. Decisions of the State Commission are passed by a majority vote at the council meetings. No Commission member shall abstain from voting.
The Head or a member of the State Commission shall be exempt from participating in a case should a conflict of interest be determined, on her/his personal request, or at the request by a third party, or if there are other grounds for non-participation. If a member does not agree with a majority decision she/he has a right of separate opinion. Provisions on the conflict of interest are similar to those regulating the status of state officials. Apart from the Commission in a narrow meaning, the State Commission is composed of the Secretariat, Expert services, Registry Office and General administrative services.
The main target of this project is to make State Commission more efficient, and review procedure in public procurement more transparent.
Future reforms in Public Procurement system in Republic of Croatia – regarding legal protection:
The goal of the single public procurement system is coordinated implementation of procedures and the award of public procurement contracts, concessions, and public-private partnerships transparently and providing equal treatment for those participating in the public procurement system, encouraging competition and sustainable economic development, simultaneously providing uniform legal protection.
By promoting the values of the public procurement system as the point of synergy of public and private interests, efforts are made to ensure procurement based on the principle of the best value for money. By taking on the responsibility for spending the taxpayers’ money, the function of this Strategy is to improve the management of public finances and to guarantee legal security to all those participating in the public procurement system.
It is expected that State Commission will be in charge for remedies in field of concessions, and public-private partnerships, (from 1st of January 2009.) but so far two laws (for concession and PPP) haven not passed Parliaments procedure.
More information’s about institution on www.dkom.hr
3.2 Linked activities (other international and national initiatives):
There was two separate Twinning project financed from CARDS 2002, in Republic Croatia, in field of public procurement. There are:
1. CARDS 2002 Twinning Project: «Strengthening the Croatian Public Procurement System», from Public Procurement Office and implementation of the activities of this Project was in a period from June 14th 2005 to February 14th 2007.
The Member State twinning partners were the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology of Germany as a senior partner and the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Slovenia as a junior partner.
The project supported the PPO in revising the existing Public Procurement Act and making proposals for its future improvement in line with the acquis requirements. It delivered a specialised training programme for the Public Procurement Office staff as well as designed a national training programme for procuring entities. Through the training programme 30 procurement specialists were trained as future trainers. It further developed a manual for procuring entities and procurement specialists as well as a manual to suppliers. It also supported the Public Procurement Office to promote awareness of the Croatian public procurement system by introducing a quarterly electronic newsletter and updating the website of the Public Procurement Office.
2. “Capacity strengthening of State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures” from State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures - CARDS 2002 Twinning Project: and implementation of the activities of this Project was in a period from August 1st 2005 to December 31st 2006.
This Twinning project involved the Croatian State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures and the Slovenian National Review Commission for Reviewing Public Procurement Procedures. It was designed to improve the Croatian public procurement remedies system and was funded under the CARDS 2002 programme with a budget € 600.000. It lasted 18 months and ended in December 2006. The project provided considerable training to the members and staff of the State Commission as well as to the procuring entities. The Twinning experts also assisted the State Commission in raising public awareness on the importance of an efficient and reliable public procurement review system. A number of seminars and workshops as well as an international conference with prominent European and Croatian lecturers were organized to that effect. Some seminars also took place outside Zagreb in order to disseminate knowledge of procuring entities at the local government level.
This Twinning project was used as an example for „Twinning best practice“, in Twinning News No 27, from September 2007.
Few of the results of this project will be further developed through the activities in the new project.
SIGMA programme – Both the Public Procurement Office and the State Commission for the Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures have received over the years technical assistance from SIGMA – a common programme by the OECD and the EU, principally funded by the EU. In course of autumn 2007 SIGMA is expected to provide assistance to the Public Procurement Office in finalising the secondary legislation under the new Public Procurement Act. Further support for 2008 is subject to specific needs of the Croatian authorities.
In 2008 from SIGMA programme is provided technical assistance in drafting new legislation in public procurement system. Technical assistance encompasses advices on new Act on Concessions, Act on Public Private Partnerships, 8 Ordinance from Public Procurement Act and amendments on Public Procurement Act.
Phare 2005 Twinning Light project “Strengthening of administrative capacity to implement new public procurement legal framework”. The project purpose is to enhance administrative capacity of the Public Procurement Office and other stakeholders for implementation of the new public procurement legal framework in Croatia through a comprehensive training programme and updating of manuals for procuring entities and bidders.
The project contributes directly to the short – terms priorities of the accession partnership between Croatia and the European Union of which one is strengthening of the administrative capacity of the Directorate for the Public Procurement System to carry out the functions it is assigned by the Public Procurement Act.
Project started on 8 of January 2008 and lasts 9 month and ends on 4 of September 2008.
Components of the Twinning Light Project:
Component 1: Training program based on the new public procurement legal framework:
° Training needs assessment for the PPO and other involved stakeholders (State Commission for Supervision Public Procurement Procedures)
° Training programme consisting of workshops, seminars and case studies elaborated on the basis of the tna
° Training programme implemented
° A study visit to a member state organised as part of the training programme for 12 people
Component 2: Update of the Manuals based on the new public procurement framework:
° Updated Manual for procuring entities prepared
° Updated Manual for tenderers finalised
3.3 Results:
· (Component I) Administrative capacity of the State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures improved
- Updated and developed website www.dkom.hr