New Public Procurement Law comes into effect April 1st

The new Public Procurement Law will enter into force on Monday, and it will be accompanied by five bylaws that will enable its more efficient implementation, Tanjug news agency reports.

This was announced on Thursday by Head of the Public Procurement Office Predrag Jovanovic.

He told a news conference the set of regulations on a civil monitor, which allows the civil society to actively monitor public procurement worth over RSD 1 billion.

Besides that, the administration adopted regulations that define the plans of procurement more precisely, as well as tender documentation and ways of reporting, and also adopted a set of regulations on requesting an opinion during negotiations.

The public procurement portal was also improved, which provides better transparency of the proceedings, he noted.

The most important change is that the portal will display all advertisements, including small ones, and that the search will be made easier, Jovanovic explained.

OSCE adviser for economic transparency Mato Meyer said Serbia spent EUR 3.5 billion a year on public procurement, with EUR 850 million of that figure being irregular.

The adoption of this law is one of the most important achievements of the government in establishing a system to prevent corruption, Meyer stressed.

The new law will improve transparency, efficiency and functioning of the appeal process for bidders, and the new amendments to the criminal code referring to abuses in public procurement will significantly improve prevention and reduce corruption in public procurement, Meyer pointed out.