Transparency Serbia for amendments to Public Procurement Law

BELGRADE - Transparency Serbia (TS) backed Friday amendments to the Public Procurements Law, stating that the provision of the additional requirements for bidders should be limited, as it can be a source of corruption in practice.

"There will certainly be some amendments to the law," the NGO's Program Director Nemanja Nenadic said, adding that the amendments are envisaged by relevant strategic documents and new EU directives.

TS President Vladimir Goati pointed to the importance of ensuring the proper implementation of public procurements, the average value of which amounts to EUR 2.5 billion per year.

He stated that monitoring of the system and public procurement procedure has showed there are huge challenges in this field, although Serbia has passed a proper law on public procurements in 2012.

According to a research carried out by TS, one of the serious problems is that certain large public procurements are still being carried out without implementing the law, all based on international agreements or agreements with international financial institutions."