CARDS 2007 twinning project
February 2nd 2007, Zagreb
Closing ceremony of CARDS twinning project "Strengthening of the State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedure", held in the Croatian Chamber of Economy in Zagreb
About the project:
The State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedures in the Republic of Croatia (onward: the Sta te Commission), together with its twinning partner, National Review Commission for Reviewing Public Procurement Procedures in the Republic of Slovenia, has successfully finished Cards project called: Strengthening of the State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement Procedure. The project started in July of 2005 and its value was 600.000 euros. The main purpose of this project was to contribute to development and strengthening of a reliable and transparent system of public procurement in the Republic of Croatia, through institutional development of the State Commission, and to gain a higher level of coherence of our standards with the European ones.
The project was divided in three sections:
- Analysis and development of legislature frame of legal protection in the system of public procurement;
- Strengthening of professional skills and competence of members and employees of the State Commission, as well as of the tenderers and contracting entities in the system of public procurement;
- Raising the level of participants' knowledge in public procurement procedures on legal protection.
Purpose and goals of the project were achieved through a number of activities, such as counselling of the State Commission's members and employees, technical and professional assistance with the making of a draft law and other acts of public procurement in the Republic of Croatia, study trips to the EU member countries-for the purpose of introducing best practice model, internships of the State Commission's members and employees at the twinning partner, seminars and workshops for the public procurement subjects, publishing of manuals for the public procurement subjects, making data base of relevant European Court decisions, making data base of the State Commission's decisions etc.
One of the essential components of the project was improvement of the State Commission's web site, www.dkom.hr, in order to raise the transparency of this institution.
Presentation of the results:
Representatives of ministries, judicature, government's offices, local government, of universities, international organizations and non-governmental associations, representatives of Croatian employers' association and Croatian Chamber of Economy attended the closing ceremony.
Introductory speeches were given by:
Mr. Goran Matešić, head of the State Commission pointed out importance of the transparent and efficient public procurement system, complemented results of this successful CARDS project, thanked all the representatives of twinning partner who participated in the realisation of this project. He announced continuation of quality work of the State Commission towards a better system of legal protection in public procurement and introduced new activities of the State Commission for 2007.
Mr. Vincent Degert, head of Delegation of the European Commission to the Republic of Croatia assessed the State Commission's work and collaboration with the Delegation of the EU Commission in Zagreb as very successful and pointed out that this was an exceptionally successful project. Problems that remain are: big number of negotiated procedures in the Republic of Croatia and legislative frame which is not completely adjusted to the EU law.
Mr. Ivan Šuker, representative of the Government of the Republic of Croatia and finance minister stated that setup of public procurement procedures control is a part of the activity that the Government has taken in order to restructure public finances and to strengthen the control of tax payer's money, just like establishment of the State Treasury or units of inner revision in local and state administration bodies. He emphasized Government's support to the State Commission and to the further development of public procurement system in the Republic of Croatia.
Mr. Samo Červek, head of the National Review Commission for Reviewing Public Procurement Procedures in the Republic of Slovenia stated that this was a very successful form of collaboration of two neighbouring countries, which in the past had good relations, and that such relations should be fostered in the future as well. The biggest credit for such successful CARDS project goes to his predecessor dr. Aleksij Mužina, and he is honoured, together with his deputy Nataša Jeršič, to have had a chance to participate in the completion of this project.
