Cooperation with other institutions
Maastricht, May 7-8 2007
European Institute of Public Administration - EIPA / Institut européen d'asministration publique - IEAP, organized two day seminar called "Public Procurement Policy Seminar on European Defense Procurement". The theme was consideration of new initiatives in the area of defense procurement on the EU level (especially bringing of a new Directive), opening of markets of the member countries, as well as their experiences in buying and selling defense equipment. Lecturers were representatives of European Commission, European Defense Agency (EDA), military industry and academic association from all over the Europe, and among participants were representatives of national ministries of defense, bodies authorized for provision of legal protection in public procurements, Council of Ministers and the Parliament of the EU and many others. Highlighted were, among others, problems of fragmented markets and bypass of the EU legal frame and suggested solutions. Presented was also place of defense procurement in the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) as a part of Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), one of the three EU pillars. The State commission's representative was Miljenko Cvitanović, legal counselor. Since the Republic of Croatia will have, very soon, reform of the legislature of public procurement, and this includes articles on defense procurement, and regarding to the endeavors of the Republic of Croatia to join the EU, seminars like this one and gained experiences from them can be very useful as in the public procurement area, so in a broader context of the European acquis communae.
Useful links: EIPA (European Institute of Public Administration), EDA, OCCAR (Organization for Joint armament Cooperation), and EU documents in the defense procurement area
Warsaw, April 26-27 2007
The State Commission's delegation (Goran Matešić- head of the State Commission, mr.sc. Ante Perdić- member of the State Commission, Daria Duždević and Edita Vodopić- legal counselors) participated Warsaw's conference titled "Fifth International Conference on Public Procurement", organized by the PPN (Public Procurement Network) who's member too is the Republic of Croatia. During the two day conference there were numerous lectures on the theme of public procurement with a special emphasis on the relevant Directives (national legislatures have to be adjusted to these), and concrete experiences of countries such as Poland, Bulgaria and Romania, which are definitely useful information for the legislature of public procurement of the Republic of Croatia. Head of the State Commission Goran Matešić was one of the chairmen; he held a lecture on the theme of legal protection. OECD representatives submitted results of a research, regarding public procurement and system of legal protection in public procurement, that was carried out in all EU member states and also presented detailed report that is available through the web.
London, March 27-29 2007
Delegation of the State Commission visited institutions for public procurement in Great Britain. Work meeting was held on March 28th 2007 on the OGC (Office of Government Commerce) premises. OGC is an office of the British Ministry of Finance (Her Majesty's Treasury), in charge of increase of standard, capability and effectiveness of public procurement procedures. Mr. Derek Rothwell, Director of Procurement, OGC buying.solutions, introduced delegation with the agency's operation and procedures of central procurement and its problems. Special attention was dedicated to Framework Agreements, system of already made agreements that significantly shorten duration of procurement procedure, lower costs and ensure transparency and equality of participants. After that Mr. Mike Davis, Deputy Director, Procurement Policy Unit, and Mr. Peter Bennett, Head of EU Developments, shortly presented reform of the public procurement system that is just being carried out in Great Britain and strengthening of the OGC role in that system. Experiences of Great Britain, as a country with one of the oldest public procurement systems in Europe, could be very significant and useful for the legislature of public procurement reform that Republic of Croatia will soon have to carry out.
Useful links: OGC, OGC buying.solutions, Transforming Government Procurement