The project was presented at a briefing by deputy Prime Minister Gazmend Oketa, and is supported by the United Nations within the framework of its Millennium Development Goals.
“This is a very important decision. It marks the creation of the first platform that will make possible public procurement online,” said Oketa.
The online platform will be managed at first by Albania’s Public Procurement Agency, while in a second stage after the consolidation of the Agency for e-Government Services, it will be integrated with other activities run by that organisation.
According to Oketa, the widespread application of this system in the future will cut procurement costs by 25 per cent.
“This will allow us to save public money, which will fully justify the administration of this process online”, said Oketa.
The deputy premier also added that online procurement is a difficult but necessary step in the war against corruption.
The new project will register contracting companies online which will make it possible for them to be notified in real time of a new procurement requirement by the administration.
The system allows businesses to submit offers, while keeping them anonymous until the time their bids have been evaluated, avoiding any prior communication or potentially corrupt contacts between the would-be contractors and the contracting authority.
The pilot project will be tried out for the first time by the state-owned Albanian Power Corporation, KESH, in an electricity tender.
It will subsequently be tested by a number of other institutions, including the ministries of health, interior and education, the road directorate at the ministry of transport and the municipality of Tirana.
Quelle/Source: BIRN, 08.10.2007
