REPUBLIC OF ALBANIA PUBLIC PROCUREMENT AGENCY Eighth Regional Public Procurement Forum May, 22-25, 2012 Tirana

Priorities of recent reforms Regulatory framework; increasing of full transparency and consolidation of electronic services; strengthening of human capacities of contracting authorities with regard to the correct understanding and implementation of legislation.

Legal framework Law no of “On public procurement”, as amended; Council of Ministers Decision no. 1 of “On public procurement regulations”, as amended; Council of Ministers Decision No. 659, dated “On the approval of public procurement regulations with electronic means”, as amended; Council of Ministers Decision no. 45 of “On the performance of public procurement procedures with electronic means”, as amended.

Legal framework (cont’) Law no of “On concessions”, as amended; Council of Ministers Decision no. 27, dated “On approval of rules for the evaluation and award of concessions”, as amended; Council of Ministers Decision no. 268 of “On the electronic performance of competitive procedures for the award of concessions”.

Legislation alignment In the framework of IPA 2008 twinning project “Support for the strengthening of the Albanian Public Procurement Systems, Concessions and Public Auctions”, were proposed: Draft amendments to the law on public procurement (no. 9643/2006, as amended); A new draft law on concessions.

Legislation alignment (cont’) Currently, PPA is cooperating with SIGMA toward drafting of a law, which in addition to concessions, to cover also public private partnerships. Instruction no. 1 of on some amendments to the Instruction no 3, dated concerning supervision of public works.

Institutional and administrative capacities Current PPA structure – 18 employees. -Legal, Monitoring and Publication Department; -Information Technology Department.

Institutional framework The implementation of legal framework on public procurement is exercised through: Public Procurement Agency; Public Procurement Commission; Procurement’s Advocate; Contracting Authorities.

Public Procurement Agency Submits to the Council of Ministers proposals for procurement regulations; promotes and organizes training of central and local government officials performing public procurement procedures; prepares standard tender documents to be used in public procurement procedures; on request, gives advice and provides technical assistance to CA, when launching and conducting awarding procedures; edits and issues the public procurement Bulletin; presents an annual report to the Council of Ministers regarding the overall functioning of the public procurement system; monitors the public procurement system through information reported periodically from CA, Central Purchasing Body and Procurement Advocate; in case of misconduct, penalizes with fines or proposes to the head of CA or higher bodies disciplinary measures against the individual in the CA, who committed the infringement.

Public Procurement Commission A collegial review body, composed of 5 members; Under the dependence of the Council of Ministers; Dealing exclusively with the complaints of economic operators; Its decisions are administratively final; The possibility of their appeal to the First Instance Court of Tirana.

Procurement Advocate The Procurement’s Advocate safeguards the legal rights and interests of candidates, bidders or suppliers against the irregular actions or lack of actions by the CA in the field of public procurement. This institution monitors and investigates the administrative procedures in public procurement, concessions and public auctions.

Foreign assistance IPA 2008 Twinning Project “Support for the strengthening of the Albanian Public Procurement Systems, Concessions and Public Auctions”. Implementation period: November 2010 – January Three components.

IPA 2008 Twinning Project First component: First component: “Legal and institutional reform” assessment of legal and institutional framework on public procurement and concessions, and submission of recommendations for their further improvement; examination of best practices of procurement in some of the EU Member States and their comparison with the Albanian public procurement legislation; assessment of the Standard Tender Documentations and proposals for their further improvement.

IPA 2008 Twinning Project (cont’) Second component: Second component: “Capacity building for the PPA and contracting authorities at both central and local government levels” adoption of a National Training Plan for the public procurement field; 12 Regional Training Units were set up by each Prefecture of the relevant district; drafting of manuals on public procurement review procedure, and guides to the award of public contracts; organization of trainings on public procurement with representatives of contracting authorities, in the country, of central and local government.

IPA 2008 Twinning Project (cont’) Third component: Third component: “Communication regarding public procurement” preparation of information materials, as brochures and flyers on the public procurement system and the institutions related to it; drafting of separate questionnaires for contracting authorities and economic operators, which were published on the PPA website; assessment of the PPA website functionality and the preparation of a report with recommendations for further improvement.

EBRD Project PPA is also currently being assisted by the EBRD project on “Utilities public procurement reform”. Objective of the project: to provide assistance with the development and implementation of the utilities sector public procurement policy, by drafting secondary or tertiary legislation and supporting practical implementation of this legal framework through capacities’ strengthening.

EBRD Project (cont’) In the framework of the project were prepared: -a draft guideline on Framework Agreements; -a draft guideline on Qualification Systems. In September, 2011 – training with representatives of PPA, Central Purchasing Body, Assembly, National Agency for Information Technology. Currently, finished the assessment on the functionalities to be added to the eps for implementing Framework Agreements and Qualification Systems, which will be realized during 2012.

Foreign assistance (cont’) PPA is also beneficiary in the Training of Trainers programme in the framework of EU funded project “Public Procurement Training in Western Balkans and Turkey”.

Thank you for your attention!