Increase Knowledge of Public Procurement Process (MD0062)

Title: Increased awareness and knowledge concerning public procurement process
1.5. Organizing communication, awareness and training sessions of the open data community on the availability and use of public procurement data
1.6. Facilitating access to public procurement procedures for small and medium-sized enterprises through training programs on online accessing bidding documents, registering offers, submitting requests to participate, communicating with other bidders
1.7. Organizing events and sessions with civil society and application developers to link public procurement data and other data sets such as company data to highlight different phenomena that were previously difficult to detect
Responsible institution: Ministry of Finance (Public Procurement Agency), State Chancellery (E-Government Center)
Supporting institution(s): MiLab – Social Innovations Laboratory
Start date: 4th quarter 2016 End date: 2nd quarter 2018

1b. Increase knowledge of public procurement process

Commitment Text:

Title: Increased awareness and knowledge concerning public procurement process

1.5. Organizing communication, awareness and training sessions of the open data community on the availability and use of public procurement data

1.6. Facilitating access to public procurement procedures for small and medium-sized enterprises through training programs on online accessing bidding documents, registering offers, submitting requests to participate, communicating with other bidders

1.7. Organizing events and sessions with civil society and application developers to link public procurement data and other data sets such as company data to highlight different phenomena that were previously difficult to detect

Responsible institution: Ministry of Finance (Public Procurement Agency), State Chancellery (E-Government Center)

Supporting institution(s): MiLab – Social Innovations Laboratory

Start date: 4th quarter 2016 End date: 2nd quarter 2018

Editorial Note: For the purpose of the IRM report, commitment one was broken up into two separate commitments (see details in the General Overview of Commitments section). These three commitment activities focus on increasing awareness and knowledge of Mtender, the e-procurement system, which was developed as part of the public procurement system development strategy 2016-2020 and the Action Plan 2016–2018[Note110: The law, http://lex.justice.md/md/368482/].

Context and Objectives

The main issue addressed by this commitment is the lack of transparency in the public procurement process, which can contribute to corruption and limit the access of certain social groups to the public procurement process or outcomes. The objectives of this commitment are to 1) raise awareness and hold trainings for the open data community on the use of public procurement data, 2) train small and medium enterprises on public procurement procedures, and 3) train civil society and applications (software) developers on how to correlate public procurement data to other datasets to identify errors, and other interlinked phenomena. These activities are relevant to the OGP value of access to information and technology and innovation.

The specificity of this commitment is medium since it describes clear activities, although commitment activity 1.5 does not identify the specific stakeholders (within the open data community) the events are targeted for. Although the commitment text does not explicitly state that these events will cover the new e-procurement system, Mtender, this is understood within the overall context of the action plan.

If fully implemented, this commitment could have a moderate potential impact by providing more information on public procurement procedures and by clarifying how Mtender functions, how it can be accessed, and what data and analysis it can generate. Civil society representatives[Note111: European Business Association, IDIS Viitorul NGO, Expert-Grup NGO, Ziarul de Garda Newspaper.] interviewed by the IRM researcher shared that there is a strong interest among local public authorities, the business sector, journalists and civil society representatives in learning more about the Mtender system and how to use the open data it provides.

Though Mtender is not specifically mentioned in the action plan, it is an important part of the public procurement reform, with a majority of the interviewed stakeholders having referred to it. It was their understanding that Mtender is part of the action plan, justifying the IRM researcher to provide their input on this.

Completion

At the end of the first year of implementation, the commitment is on schedule and substantially complete.

Under the wide scope of commitment activity 1.5, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) held several events in frequent collaboration with the Public Procurement Agency (PPA) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). In 2017, MoF hosted a training session for public institutions piloting the Mtender system[Note112: Ministry of Finance, Public Procurement Agency, Customs Office, Tax Authority, Financial Inspection, State Enterprise FinTehInform, and for the commercial platforms, ensuring the frontend service.]; an event launching Mtender, in which 130 stakeholders attended[Note113: This was confirmed by the EBRD Office Moldova, and the following NGOs, members of the Steering Committee of the MTender Project: AGER, IDIS Viitorul, ExpertGrup.]; and a series of 10 training sessions[Note114: These are components of the Technical Cooperation Project between EBRD and the Ministry of Finance; the events were financed by EBRD.] in various locations[Note115: Chisinau, Hancesti, Orhei, Ungheni, Tighina, Cahul, Comrat Balti, Soroca, and Edinet.] throughout the country. Additionally, other relevant training events were organized by EBRD at the request of MoF.[Note116: In 2017, EBRD organized three training sessions on Mtender for the Center for Centralized Public Procumbent in the Health Sector,http://capcs.md/slider/achizitii-publice-in-sectorul-de-sanatate-teorie-si-practica/] According to the government, a workshop on 'Open Contracting in Moldova' was held on 27 June 2017, where the latest version of the open contacting portal (opencontracting.date.gov.md) was presented to representatives from civil society and the public sector. The PPA, along with IDIS Viitorul, also organized two training seminars on November 3 and 5 2017. The first training was on the functioning of the public procurement system in Moldova and the second was on the process for public procurement in the country.

The MoF also hosted an Mtender workshop in January 2017 with public authorities, held an Mtender event in February for the private sector, and organized an Mtender workshop in collaboration with the Business Association of Moldova in August. The IRM researcher received a list of the events from the EBRD office in Moldova. However, the IRM researcher was unable to verify the completion of these events due to limited publicly available information.

According to the government self-assessment, the PPA organized a training seminar to present 'the platform of the low-value electronic public procurement system (IRM researcher note: this refers to the piloting of the MTender system, which allowed in 2017 the piloting for low-value contracts only) to 23 economic operators' (1.6).[Note117: Self-Assessment Report, https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2001/01/Moldova_Mid-Term-Self-Assessment_2016-2018_EN.pdf] It is unclear, however, who the economic operators were and whether or not the seminar included topics on accessing bid documents and communication with other bidders (as stated in the action plan). Also, according to the self-assessment, during this period the government organized six workshops on sustainable procurement and one conference. The IRM researcher was unable to verify these events and their participants due to the lack of publicly available information.

Concerning commitment activity 1.7, the MiLab Social Innovations Laboratory[Note118: This UNDP project 'aims to establish a multilateral platform to engage actors from different sectors (public, private, non-profit, etc.) to seek and experiment with innovative approaches to the society’s problems', http://md.one.un.org/content/unct/moldova/en/home/our-work/joint-un-projects/centrul-de-inovaii-sociale-din-moldova-.html
Ultimately, the Lab is working on developing solutions that have been tested on the ground and co-developed with the strong involvement of beneficiaries and are ready to be scaled-up in extended environments.], together with the E-Government Center, organized various events for civil society and software developers in the fall of 2017. [Note119: Moldova Social Innovation Lab, Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/opendatamediacamp?source=feed_text]^{,[Note120: UNDP Moldova, http://www.md.undp.org/content/moldova/en/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2017/07/17/pnud-inspir-jurnali-tii-i-activi-tii-civici-s-valorifice-datele-deschise-.html,}

^{http://www.md.undp.org/content/moldova/ro/home/presscenter/pressreleases/2017/09/19/25-de-jurnali-ti-i-activi-ti-civici-fac-front-comun-pentru-date-deschise-i-mai-mult-transparen-.html]} These events included several components: a five-day camp in September[Note121: Organized with the financial support of SlovakAid.], a three-month mentorship, and a study visit. The topics addressed during the camp ranged from anti-corruption in the public procurement system, financial frauds to integrity and power abuse.[Note122: Open Data Media Camp, http://milab.md/ro/milab_projects/open-data-media-camp/] Twenty-five specialists, activists, journalists, and open data users attended the five-day camp and six of the attendees received mentorship on open data use and took a study visit to Slovakia.[Note123: Zugo portal, study visit to Slovakia, https://zugo.md/article/castiga-o-bursa-de--1000-si-o-vizita-de-studiu-in-slovacia--participa-la-open-data-media-camp-2017_19697.htm] Two databases[Note124: Links to the two databases, http://openmd.info/fen/ and http://openmd.info/primari/] were developed and published: Projects financed from the National Ecological Fund during the period 2011–2016[Note125: National Ecological Fund, http://openmd.info/fen/] and Elected/Appointed mayors of the Republic of Moldova during the period 1995–2017.[Note126: Mayors of the Republic of Moldova, http://openmd.info/primari/] The National Ecological Fund database is related to the scope of this commitment activity, and the link provided in the self-assessment leads to a website where the database is presented, and available for download in excel format.[Note127: National Ecological Fund, http://openmd.info/fen/] The second database is not related to public procurement.

The implementation of the activity was delayed due to some external factors related to the cooperation with the partner, SlovakAid.[Note128: MiLab team (I. Frunza, M.Gurghis, D.Belan), group interview, 19 December 2018]

There were also many activities implemented by various stakeholders supporting the implementation of this commitment, including the Organization of Small and Medium Enterprises (ODIMM),[Note129: The Organization for the Development of Small and Medium Enterprises (ODIMM), a public organization, organized training sessions with SMEs, informing them about Mtender.] the Moldovan Commerce and Industry Chamber,[Note130: The Moldovan Commerce and Industry Chamber organized events and training sessions on public procurement, which were open to all interested businesses. They also provide on-demand sessions to businesses. This information has been confirmed by the Commerce and Industry Chamber.] and business associations.[Note131: According to the European Business Association (EBA), several business associations organized joint training sessions on Mtender in 2017 for their members. The IRM researcher has conducted an interview with the representatives of Varolnform, one of the businesses managing one of MTender’s commercial e-procurement platforms (the ypages/tender platform). VaroInform provides hands-on training to contracting agencies who volunteer to pilot the e-procurement system and use their platform and is available for consultations via phone and email, as well as on-site.] However, these stakeholders are not listed as responsible or supporting institutions, and the work they have implemented does not count towards overall completion (as assessed by this report).

Next Steps

For this action plan cycle the IRM researcher recommends that the commitment is completed in the remaining period of the action plan. For the next action plan, the IRM researcher recommends the following:

· Assess the training needs of public authorities, businesses, and civil society concerning the new system.

· Develop clearer training, information and dissemination plan, and consider both offline and online activities to save public resources.

· Expand coverage of training sessions, by potentially using the existing Novateca[Note132: The Novateca network, http://map.novateca.md/ro/] network. Ensure that rural populations, including small businesses from rural areas, have access to the information on the new system.

1.b Increase knowledge of public procurement process

Commitment Text:

Title: Increased awareness and knowledge concerning public procurement process

1.5. Organizing communication, awareness and training sessions of the open data community on the availability and use of public procurement data

1.6. Facilitating access to public procurement procedures for small and medium-sized enterprises through training programs on online accessing bidding documents, registering offers, submitting requests to participate, communicating with other bidders

1.7. Organizing events and sessions with civil society and application developers to link public procurement data and other data sets such as company data to highlight different phenomena that were previously difficult to detect

Responsible Institutions: Ministry of Finance (Public Procurement Agency), State Chancellery [E-Government Agency]

Supporting Institution: MiLab – Social Innovations Laboratory

Start Date: 4th quarter 2016

End Date: 2nd quarter 2018

Editorial Note: For the purpose of the IRM report, Commitment 1 was broken up into two separate commitments (see details in the General Overview of Commitments section). These three commitment activities focus on increasing awareness and knowledge of MTender, the e-procurement system, which was developed as part of the Public Procurement System Development Strategy 2016–2020 and the Action Plan 2016–2018. [41]

Commitment Aim:

The goal of this commitment, which is linked to commitment 1a, was to ensure more transparency in the public procurement process by raising awareness and holding training sessions for the open data community on the use of public procurement data, training small and medium enterprises on public procurement procedures, and civil society and application (software) developers on how to correlate public procurement data to other data. The commitment covered awareness activities related to public procurement and procurement data, including the new e-procurement system, MTender.

Status

Midterm: Substantial

By the end of the first of year of implementation this commitment was substantially completed. The Ministry of Finance (MOF), with the support of the Public Procurement Agency and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), held various events including: a training session for the institutions piloting MTender; [42] an event launching MTender; [43] and a series of 10 training sessions [44] in various locations [45] across the country. Other connected events organized in 2017 (workshops and a conference), relevant to Milestones 1.5 and 1.6, focused on open contracting in Moldova, sustainable procurement, and the public procurement process and procedures. The events mostly targeted public authorities, but some were also organized for the private sector and civil society. However, the IRM researcher was unable to verify the completion of all events due to limited publicly available information.

Under Milestone 1.7, the MiLab Social Innovations Laboratory, [46] together with the E-Government Agency, held several events for civil society and software developers in late 2017. [47]^{, [48]} These events, including a summer school, a mentorship program and a study visit, focused on various topics, including the public procurement system. [49] More details on the focus and outcomes of the activity are available in the IRM midterm report.

End of term: Complete

Considering that most activities foreseen by this commitment were completed in 2017 the end-of-term status of this commitment is considered completed. Activity 1.5 is no longer relevant because as soon as the new system MTender was implemented and became mandatory for all procuring entities, information sessions about the old SIA RSAP system, which was feeding information to the opencontracting.gov.md platform, became obsolete. The information it contains will be stored as historical data. [50]

At the same time, throughout 2018 and especially since September 2018, the Information and Technologies in Finance Center (ITFC), the Public Procurement Agency, and the Ministry of Finance, have continued to organize training sessions on the MTender system for all public procuring entities, which are also open for the private sector and any interested civil society stakeholders. [51] Expert Diana Enachi confirmed that her NGO, IDIS Viitorul, had attended some of these events without any difficulty. Furthermore, considering the major changes (see text of Commitment 1a) brought by the launch of the new e-procurement system, and the anticipation of the mandatory use of MTender for all public entities by law, in addition to the information available on the websites of the responsible state institutions, the mass media also intensively covered the subject, especially during the August - November 2018 period, e.g., on the online version of the Official Gazette, [52] the news portals diez.md, [53] bizlaw.md, [54] Ziarul de Garda (online and printed versions), and TV Stations Prime TV. [55]

Under Milestone 1.6, the Public Procurement Agency planned to hold five training sessions for businesses in 2018. [56] Though these did not focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in particular, they were focused on the public procurement legal framework and the amendments. Also, the Public Procurement Agency (PPA) organized a training for SMEs on 27 February 2018, attended by 27 participants, on the new public procurement regulatory framework. The PPA planned another training for SMEs on the participation of business in public procurement processes for 19 December 2018. [57] According to the government’s Self-Assessment Report on the implementation of the action plan, 21 participants attended this training. The seminar was addressed to the employees of the small and medium-sized economic operators and the private sector specialists, who were included in the departments with attributions in the public procurement process. Into the seminar were discussed the following topics: -sources for accessing information on public procurement; - tender documentation: requirements, thresholds, deadlines, changes. - bids for participation in public procurement procedures; -rules of communication between the economic operator and the contracting authority; - how to submit complaints in public procurement procedures. Also, in February 2018, the MOF, the PPA, and the State Enterprise Fintehinform (the MTender managing entity), and the private entities owning the three platforms which are linked to MTender, organized 34 seminars, attended by 2,040 participants, on making public procurement more efficient through the use of the MTender system. [58] xpert Diana Enachi clarifies that the main facilitation of the SMEs’ participation in the public procurement processes was introduced by the amendments made to the public procurement law, which came into force in October 2018. [59] One of the amendments includes allowing procuring entities to request price quotations per batches/items rather than for one single large order, [60] and this gives the opportunity for more SMEs to participate in public procurement processes. [61] This ensures healthier competition and better prices for the procuring entities, as well as facilitating SMEs’ access to public procurement contracts.

IDIS Viitorul NGO held other events that potentially contributed to the implementation of the commitment: four workshops were organized in summer 2018 for the private sector on the legal amendments and public procurement process. [62], [63]

Did It Open Government?

Access to Information: Marginal

Prior to the implementation of the new MTender system, only limited information about the different stages of the public procurement process was available to the public. Investigative journalists and NGOs monitoring public procurement processes had shared these concerns for years. [64] Interviewees for the midterm and end-of-term reports mentioned the lack of transparency of the processes as a main issue that the new system intends to tackle. [65] Moreover, since this commitment is linked to Commitment 1a, as it refers to information and training related to the e-public procurement system, it contributes to safeguarding the full transparency of the public procurement process as the implementation of the new system allows citizens, CSOs and experts to track and monitor the processes. Awareness raising, as well as the training activities (for capacity building and ensuring the sound use of the e-system by procuring entities, businesses, CSOs, and experts,. [66] and securing the understanding of the new procurement legal framework and the rights and responsibilities of the participants in the process [67]), led to a change in practice and perception of the public procurement process by public entities and other stakeholders. These activities will thus potentially contribute to further open government practice, but they were still ongoing at the time of writing this report. Also, as the new system was launched only a few months ago, there are still no monitoring data to demonstrate its achievements and the challenges it faces compared to the planned outcomes, including how well the training and awareness-raising activities have contributed to capacity building and strengthening. Therefore, this commitment has improved access to information marginally, though commitment 1a has improved access to information in a major way.

functionalities of the system which have been developed, according to the government’s self-assessment [68] but are not yet active (e.g., e-catalogue, the business intelligence module, the execution of contracts tracking, and the required legal amendments of regulatory aspects of the aforementioned functionalities), and there is no clear timeline as to the launch of the full range of these functionalities, which will further strengthen the system’s ability to ensure full openness of public procurement.

Carried Forward?

The activities of this commitment were completed, as written, and are not carried over to the next action plan. At the same time, the importance of the new public procurement system for Moldovan society is manifold: it makes public procurement and expenses at local, regional, and national levels more transparent and it allows civil society groups to monitor and track different procurement contracts, it could help curb procurement-related corruption, and gives the opportunity to SMEs to access public contracts, which was difficult to achieve previously. Therefore, communication, training, awareness raising, and information activities will continue to take place, though outside the OGP framework.