OSCE helps Serbia fight corruption in public procurement

Like most countries, Serbia spends a huge amount of money on buying goods and services for the state. Each year, around 15 percent—approximately 6 billion USD—of Serbia’s gross domestic product is spent on public procurement. Inefficiency and corruption means that not all this money is spent as it should. Economists estimate that the professionalization of procurement could help Serbia reduce its procurement budget by a fifth.

This is why the OSCE Mission to Serbia supports the reform of the old public procurement system. From 2006 to 2007, a pilot project introduced a certification system to raise professionalism in public procurement. The OSCE Mission trained those who would become certified public procurement officers.

The long road to reform

The complex reform process included many steps: amending the Public Procurement Law, instituting a new Public Procurement Office and establishing an internationally harmonized training programme in line with EU standards.

The OSCE Mission to Serbia supported this process by, for example, drafting amendments to the Public Procurement Law, translating legal documents and working on capacity-building projects on topics such as legislation implementation and bidders' rights, and training on centralized procurement and utilizing IT in publishing and searching tenders.

In order to assist the introduction of the certification process, the Mission published a Manual for Certification for Public Procurement Officers in December 2009. This is used as a textbook for officials seeking to become certified public procurement officers and also serves as a reference book for their ongoing work.

Testing times

In late 2010, the Public Procurement Office began examinations for public servants who aimed to become certified public procurement officers. The test set the bar high: only a little over half of the hopefuls passed.

Ruth Van-Rhijn, the Head of the Rule of Law Department at the OSCE Mission to Serbia, says the certification of public procurement officials marked a significant step toward the professionalization of contracting authorities.

"The courses and exams upgrade the skills of these officials and lay out a basis for professional career development based on merits – and not on loyalty,” she says.

A ceremony was held on 24 March 2011 for the first 113 people who passed the exam, becoming the first group of certified public procurement officers. Two of the newly-qualified officers who passed the course with the highest scores gave their verdict of the reforms:

“These certificates will positively affect the position of public procurement officers in the institutions where they work, and it will certainly contribute to the fight against corruption,” says Slavica Mladenović.

Adds Branimir Blagojević: “What is even more important is that this is an opportunity for the citizens of our country to see that their money is handled by people who are trained for it and are true professionals.”

Agents of change

Each month more and more applicants apply to take the examination, and the reform process is continuing. The OSCE Mission is now supporting the adoption of a Code of Ethics for Public Procurement Officers and works to encourage the establishment of a professional association for public procurement. Altogether these reforms send a positive message to Serbian society – the problems with corruption in public procurement are changing for the better.

 “These trained and certified officers can act as ‘agents of change’ as they reduce the amount of money lost through corruption,” says Thomas Moore, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia. “This means that more of taxpayers’ money is left for use in other areas such as healthcare and education, thus enhancing the welfare of the entire society.”

Written by Ulla Saar