This report was prepared by the OECD Public Governance Directorate (GOV), under the direction and oversight of Elsa Pilichowski, Director; János Bertók, Deputy Director; and Paulo Magina, Acting Head of GOV’s Infrastructure and Public Procurement Division (IPP) It was co-ordinated by Matthieu Cahen, Senior Policy Analyst in IPP. The authors of this report are András Hlács and Masayuki Omote, policy analysts at IPP. Sanda Jugo, policy analyst at IPP, contributed to the drafting, while Dovilė Bogušytė, Deirdre Kiernan, and Michaela Faux provided editorial assistance.
The action was funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument, and implemented by the OECD, in co-operation with the Reform and Investment Task Force (SG REFORM) of the European Commission. The OECD expresses its gratitude to the European Commission for its support of this project, particularly Mr. Kjartan Björnsson, Head of Unit, Governance and Public Administration, Ms. Rima Joujou Deljkić, and Ms. Aleksandra Marchewka, policy officers at the same unit and coordinators of the project in SG Reform.
The OECD is particularly thankful to the Government of Croatia for its commitment to this work and wishes to express its gratitude to all those who made this collaboration possible. In particular, the OECD expresses its gratitude to Ms. Renata Tomljenović, Acting Director for Public Procurement Policy, Ministry of Economy (MINGO) of the Republic of Croatia, Mr. Matija Karaula, Head of Monitoring, Analytics and Reporting, Directorate for Public Procurement Policy (DPPP), MINGO, Ms. Mateja Matković, Head of the Department for International Cooperation, Development, and System, DPPP, MINGO, Mr. Mate Kovać, Head of Sector for Support and Development of Entrepreneurship, Coordination and International Cooperation, the Croatian Agency for SMEs, Innovations and Investments (HAMAG-BICRO), and Mr. Franjo Vukić, Head of Coordination Unit, HAMAG-BICRO. The OECD also thanks Ms. Nina Čulina, the former Director for Trade and Public Procurement Policy, for leading this ambitious project during the preparation and initial stage of collaboration with the OECD.
The engagement and consultation with key stakeholders of the public procurement system in Croatia were critical for the successful completion of this review. 75 public procurement officials in Croatia participated in the ProcurCompEU self-assessment survey from the eleven public entities. In addition, the OECD wishes to recognise the contributions of the fifteen trainers from four key Croatian institutions – MINGO, HAMAG-BICRO, the Central State Office for Central Public Procurement and the Croatian Central Finance and Contracting Agency for European Union programmes and projects (SAFU) – who actively participated in the Training of Trainers (ToT) programme held in Zagreb in February 2024 and in Zadar and Zagreb in June 2024. Moreover, 1 077 economic operators collaborated in the innovation procurement survey in July 2024.
Finally, the OECD would like to thank Ms. Sissel Kristin Hoel, Mr. Johan Englund, Mr. Magne Hareide, Mr. Thomas Storfjord, and Ms. Malin Karlsson from the Norwegian Agency for Public and Financial Management (DFØ), for the strong partnership with the OECD in developing the training materials and manual of innovation procurement.