Implementing Open Contracting Standards (AL0088)

Brief Description of the Commitment

The commitment towards the increased transparency on public contracts refers to: 1. Increased use of the electronic appeal system; 2. Continuous publication of the concessions/ppp contracts in the concessions/ppp registry 3. Increased awareness of the economic operators, civil society and other actors.

Problem Definition

1. What problem does the commitment aim to address? Although the public procurement procedures in Albania are conducted electronically since 2009, there is always a need for further improvement and increase of transparency in different levels. Equally, the collaboration with the civil society in this context, is very important as it contributes to improvement of the data availability and of the procurement system as a whole.

2.What are the causes of the problem? All public procurement related information is published at the PPA website and also is available in the EPS. However, there is in general a lack of knowledge among the public on where to find and how to access this information which gives the wrong impression that there is a lack of transparency. Increased awareness on this matter is therefore necessary.

Commitment Description

1. What has been done so far to solve the problem? A series of actions undertaken so far by the Government of Albania, contribute significantly to the increase of transparency in public procurement, namely: i. Electronic conduction of all the procurement procedures in the EPS since 2009; As stated above, since 2009, all procurement procedures in Albania are carried out electronically in EPS, including small-value procurement procedures and, since 2018, also negotiated procedures without prior publication of the contract notice. This system is constantly improving, especially considering the legal changes of 2020 and the approval of the new procurement law, as well as the need to guarantee an efficient, sustainable and transparent procurement system in Albania. ii. Establishment of a Concessions and PPPs registry; Based on Article 14 “Register of concession/public private partnership: of Law No. 125/2013 “On Concessions and Public Private Partnership” provides that the Register of concession/public private partnership is an electronic database of all concession and public private partnership contracts, given in the Republic of Albania. The register of concession/public private partnership is created and maintained by the “Concessions Treatment Agency (ATRAKO)” in accordance with the legal provisions in force. Based on the above, since 2019 when this register was created by ATRAKO, every concession is registered and published in this register. iii. Introduction of an Open Data portal in the PPA website; From 2021, there is also an open data window on the APP website where data on all procurement procedures developed by each contracting authority can be easily accessed. This includes data for all procurement procedures since 2010, which can be used by anyone interested according to their own needs. iv. Establishment of an e-appeal system for electronic submission of complaints. During 2021, the Public Procurement Commission implemented the most important reform of digitization of services and complaint management. This reform consists in the electronic submission of complaints and arguments, as two separate services in the unique government portal e-albania. Domestic and foreign economic operators have the opportunity to submit online all complaints about public procurement procedures and concessions/public private partnerships. This system, created in accordance with the legal framework in force, has enabled the digital execution of every task and work process provided for by law, both for the Contracting Authorities and for the Public Procurement Commission. It offers full transparency based on open data principles, for which the Commission has collaborated with the Open Contracting Partnership.

2. What solution are you proposing? In order to further increase transparency in public contracts the following actions can be taken: i. Continuous publication of the concessions and PPPs contract in the Concessions and PPPs registry; ii. Increased use of the e-appeal system form the contracting authorities and economic operators; iii. Increase collaboration with civil society to promote open data standards for public contracts

3.What results do we want to achieve by implementing this commitment? -Publication of all concessions and PPPs contracts. -Increased number of users of the e-appeal system -Increased public awareness

Milestones | Expected Outputs | Expected Completion Date

-Continuous publication of the Concessions and PPPs contract in the electronic registry | • All concessions and PPPs contracts published | S I 2024

-Promote Open Contracting Standards and Principles - Integrate Risk Assessment tools - Promote Open Corporates Standart– control of integrity of Public Contractor | • tools, instruments, visualization of Public Procurements of Local Government Units link https://openprocur ement.al/en/tender /list • tools, instruments on risk assessment and red flag index in process of procurement https://openprocur ement.al/en/index/ redflag | S II 2024

The System of submitting and managing electronics complaint | --Increasing transparency as a tool in the fight against corruption, through the publication of real-time data that is accessed in the JSON format (one of the highest standards for the implementation of the Open data principles); - -Reduction of costs for the parties involved in the process, mainly the economic operators but not only (fuel costs, postal fees, power, etc.); - -Efficiency - in the provision of the complaint submission and review service; - -Faster access and interaction with domestic and foreign economic operators and contracting authorities for: -Submitting the complaint - -Carrying out all financial fee payments; - -Submission of arguments to the contracting authority and to the Procurement Commission; - -Receiving real - time information on the progress of the complaint review process; -All communications in accordance with the law on public procurement contracting authority - economic operator -Public Procurement Commission only in electronic form (complaint review, final decision, notification of parties) -Carrying out the procedural actions of the Public Procurement Commission through the Complaints Management System (procedural actions of drawing files, appointing realtors, inspectors, communication with third parties, etc.); -Access by people with disabilities | S II 2023 2024 S I 2025

-The new website of the Public Procurement Commission https://kpp.al/ is based on open data, principle of the Open Contracting Partnership; | Transparency and accessibility for all actors who use it to access detailed information about: filed complaints, decision making, history of decision making in three published register Register of complaints; Register of decisions; History of decisions statistics https://kpp.al/Raport eStatistikore Annual reports https://kpp.al/Raport e) monthly bulletin, the progress of PPC decision-making appealed to the court, including the decision-making of the judicial system Publishes data according to the Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS), for more link https://kpp.al/en/Ank esaOCDS | S II 2023 2024

- Activities with the participation of interested parties – Annual conference “Challenges of the procurement system in Albania with wide participation of economic operators, contracting authorities, media etc - Training with economic operators and contracting authorities. Procedural and legal aspect of submitting complaints in E- Appeals system - workshop with judges from the Supreme Court. The administrative Court of Appeal. The Special Court of Appeal for Corruption and Organized Crime. Participants from the Supreme Juridical Council , the National Bureau of Investigation, SIGMA- OECD | - Addressing the problems encountered by the parties in the process - Avoiding the same mistake twice by contracting authorities and economic operators. - Increasing the capacities of the private sector included in the process - Better understanding and increasing the capacities of the involved parties to eliminate risks related to problematic integrity in public procurement procedures. | S II 2023; 2024; 2024; S II 2023 - 2024

Action Plan Review

Commitment 15. Increase transparency for public contracts