Romania’s Government aims to create a centralized public procurement system in Romania, according to the “Competitive Romania” country project, which was launched into public debate at the beginning of July.

“The central procurement unit”, as the future institution is called in the document, would be responsible to carry out public procurement for the central administration. This could lead to considerable public savings, due to the higher volume of orders.

In Romania, the state is the biggest buyer in the economy. The public procurement carried out through the Electronic Public Procurement System (SEAP) totaled EUR 17.2 billion in 2014 and EUR 11 billion last year.

SEAP is a guarantee of more transparency, at least in theory. However, institutions have found ways to circumvent the instrument and mask expensive acquisitions that are not justified.

Romania currently has over 10,000 authorities involved in public procurement. Their control is inefficient.

Another way to eliminate suspicions of fraud and corruption in public procurement procedures is the introduction of a blacklist of the companies that haven’t respected the procedures. This instrument is required by the law, but doesn’t operate in Romania.

Consultations on the country project continue until mid-September, with a total of 16 chapters of this document to be discussed.

Presidency, Government, central bank unveil new country project for Romania

editor@romania-insider.com