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Chapter 1: Applying a risk management approach to challenges in public procurement |
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Recommendation 1: Foster a culture of integrity in public procurement |
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Develop specific integrity training programmes or courses for public procurement professionals. This would increase awareness of integrity risks and enhance officials' capacity to address these risks effectively. |
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X |
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Deepen partnerships with the private sector and civil society to strengthen public procurement integrity. This could include addressing barriers to CSO engagement, for example by implementing small-scale pilots in areas such as monitoring and ensuring ongoing dialogue and capacity building for the private sector. |
X |
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Recommendation 2: Improve coordination between stakeholders |
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Romania should better leverage the Inter-ministerial Committee for Public Procurement and its technical working group to improve coordination between key stakeholders. |
X |
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Recommendation 3: Build the capacity and capabilities of the public procurement workforce |
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Collaborate with universities, think tanks, and policy centres and develop communities of practice to enhance the practical risk management skills of procurement professionals. |
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X |
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Make public procurement careers more attractive by offering competitive, merit-based career options, establishing clear career paths, investing in professional development, and developing non-financial incentives to motivate and retain talent. |
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X |
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Continue investing in CPBs to strengthen their capacity to implement risk management practices. This includes ensuring that CPB officials receive adequate training and resources and that CPBs have processes and procedures to identify, assess, manage and monitor risks. |
X |
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Recommendation 4: Address the instability of the public procurement legal framework |
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Restrict legislative initiatives that duplicate or conflict with existing procurement laws to stabilize the legal framework. |
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X |
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Establish clearer responsibilities for maintaining and updating the public procurement legal framework. Mandatory consultation with ANAP and developing communication protocols between institutions can prevent conflicting legal changes, while enhanced regulatory impact assessments could ensure the quality of new public procurement rules. |
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X |
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Recommendation 5: Increase competition in public procurement |
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Improve contracting authorities’ capacity to engage the market throughout the procurement cycle by offering clear guidance and capacity-building initiatives. |
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X |
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Provide training for private sector participants, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to help them compete in public procurement. |
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X |
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Recommendation 6: Strengthen the effectiveness of the public procurement control system |
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Enhance coordination between control bodies to ensure consistent enforcement of procurement rules and advice to contracting authorities and greater assurance that controls are functioning as intended. Increasing information-sharing and joint efforts may also identify opportunities to streamline oversight, such as reduced reliance on ex ante control. |
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X |
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Continue efforts to shift the focus of control activities from compliance with legal and regulatory rules to assessing value for money. |
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X |
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Recommendation 7: Address the concerns of practitioners with regards to liability and the distinction between error, fraud and negligence |
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Develop clear guidance on personal and institutional accountability to help procurement practitioners understand their responsibilities and reduce concerns about liability. This guidance should be supported by training and awareness-raising sessions to clarify accountability provisions. |
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X |
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Issue guidance to clearly differentiate between error, negligence, and fraud, providing definitions, examples, and case studies for clarity. This could be bolstered by collecting data on negligence and fraud in public procurement, such as the number of referrals resulting in convictions from control bodies to the legal system related to public procurement. |
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X |
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Chapter 2: Implementing a risk-based approach in public procurement |
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Recommendation 8: Harmonise the application of risk management frameworks to public procurement |
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Harmonise public procurement risk management efforts and ensure that general frameworks are applied consistently in public procurement. This could begin with a comprehensive mapping and assessment followed by the development of specific guidance tailored to integrating these frameworks into procurement processes. |
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X |
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Provide more guidance on the identification and evaluation of corruption risks and incidents under Decision 599/2018. |
X |
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Recommendation 9: Supporting the implementation and dissemination of existing risk management tools |
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Further promote ANAP guides and methodological support and make them accessible to practitioners. This could be accomplished by incorporating them into training, communication, and workshops and by producing accessible summaries. |
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Continue to build on the implementation of the PREVENT system by raising awareness on how integrity forms should be completed, ensuring stable funding for ongoing operations and maintenance, and considering mandating the use of SEAP for a broader range of procurement procedures. |
X |
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Promote the use of the comprehensive risk map developed under this project in the development of contracting authorities’ Public Procurement Strategies and Contracting Strategies. |
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Consider the application of processes and tools currently used for European funds to national funds. This could help align national practices with the standards required for managing European funds, fostering trust and supporting risk management. |
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Establishing and expanding mechanisms such as workshops, peer-to-peer learning initiatives and good practice-sharing platforms to facilitate the spread of effective risk management tools. |
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