© OECD A joint initiative of the OECD and the European Union, principally financed by the EU Baku, Public Procurement Monitoring In Azerbaijan and Abroad Zuzana Dančíková, Transparency International Slovakia

Why is monitoring public procurement an issue? In Slovakia € 3,9 billion was spent in public procurement in 2012 (15 % of total government expenditure) According to a survey, Slovak businesses believe on average 13 % of the value of a tender goes to bribes.survey € 500 million could be saved annually, the equivalent of  16 new hospitals  51 km of new highways  21 % pay raise for all young teachers 2

Why is monitoring public procurement an issue? TI Slovakia experience suggests: Monitoring procurement based on aggregate procurement data leads to savings by Introducing better policy based on evidence Pointing to individual cases of inefficient procurement 3

What to monitor in public procurement?  Formal procurement process  Substance of procurement  Individual level  Aggregate level 4 Individual levelAggregate level Publishing dataStateCivil society Monitoring procurement procedure State Civil society Monitoring procurement substance Civil society Monitoring public procurement in Slovakia: Civil society supplements the State

How do we monitor procurement? 1.COMPILATION & PRESENTATION OF AGGREGATE DATA Transparency International Slovakia has developed a web portal tender.sme.sk, which allows us to compile available data on individual cases of procurement and present aggregate datatender.sme.sk 2.ANALYSIS & INVESTIGATION Aggregate data enables us to analyze trends in procurement & investigate individual tenders 5

Compiling and presenting aggregate data Daily automatic downloads of tender notices from the state Office for Public ProcurementOffice for Public Procurement Automatic collection of predefined information from downloaded notices Automatic republication of collected data in a user-friendly way 6

Compiling and presenting data: Individual vs. aggregate procurement data 7

Compiling and presenting data: Collecting information from individual tender notices 8 Source: e-vestnik.sk

Compiling and presenting data: Defining relevant data Searchable data:Descriptive data:Calculated data: Supplier Procurer Procured article Region Year Type of procedure Expected price Final price Number of bids Overall procured volumes Average competition 9

Compiling and presenting data: Aggregate information about an individual procurer 10 Source: tender.sme.sk

Compiling and presenting data: Information about an individual tender in context 11 Source: tender.sme.sk

Analysis of trends in procurement & investigation of individual tenders Analysis of aggregate data allows us to answer policy questions such as: Does public procurement in a particular sector (e.g. healthcare) require special oversight? If mandatory electronic auctions are introduced in public procurement, do savings occur? 12

Analysis of trends in procurement & investigation of individual tenders: Closer attention should be paid to public procurement in Slovak health care 13 Source: tender.sme.sk

FINDINGS: More than half of all tenders in healthcare receive just a single a bid 35 million EUR (14% of annual procurement expenditure in health care) could be saved if number of bids in single-bid tenders increased to two IMPACT: 40 media citations, most cited analysis by Slovak commentators 2 months later Ministry of Health strengthened oversight over state hospitals 14 Analysis of trends in procurement & investigation of individual tenders: Closer attention should be paid to public procurement in Slovak health care

Analysis of trends in procurement & investigation of individual tenders: Mandatory e-auctions save public money 15 Source: SDKU-DS

Analysis of trends in procurement & investigation of individual tenders: Mandatory e-auctions save public money FINDINGS: -Rising number of bids in tenders is associated with increasing savings -Savings are more significant when e-auctions are used IMPACT: Widely cited by media Promotion of mandatory e-auction in political parties’ programs 16

Analysis of trends in procurement & investigation of individual tenders: Searching for bad deals 17 Medical equipment often said to be bought inefficiently CT tenders over last 5 years investigated (27) Price differences of up to 100 % found: CORRUPTION Source: tender.sme.sk, hospitals

Technical conditions 18 Good quality data Good understanding of policies and procedures IT Skills Funds (project source codes and documentation available)

Way forward Monitoring procurement leads to savings. What is next? Closer involvement of all stakeholders (government, journalists, public) New features:  Collecting information on calls for tenders  Introducing notifications Opening further data, e.g. Open Contracts (in Slovakia all public contracts, invoices and orders have to be published online before they enter into force).Open Contracts 19

THANK YOU! 20