Republic of Moldova : Country Procurement Assessment Report
This first Country Procurement Assessment Report (CPAR) on Moldova comes at a time when the country has publicly committed itself to the signal departure of acceding to the WTO Agreement o n Government Procurement (GPA). It will be the first develo...
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| Format: | Country Procurement Assessment (CPAR) |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
Washington, DC
2013
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2003/06/2858955/moldova-country-procurement-assessment-report http://hdl.handle.net/10986/14603 |
| Summary: | This first Country Procurement
Assessment Report (CPAR) on Moldova comes at a time when the
country has publicly committed itself to the signal
departure of acceding to the WTO Agreement o n Government
Procurement (GPA). It will be the first developing country
in Eastern Europe t o do so. The CPAR's key findings,
including risk assessment, the strengths and weaknesses of
the public procurement system currently in place, and the
main features of a proposed action plan are summarized here.
Public procurement represents a substantial element of the
expenditure side of the Government's budget. Estimates
prepared for this assessment indicate that total expenditure
on procurement amounted to approximately US$118 million.
Procurement accounted for 17 percent of total expenditures
by the State government and 42 percent of expenditure by
local governments, with expenditure at all levels showing
substantial increases over past years. Improving the
efficiency of that expenditure can contribute to better
budget management. Yet control of public procurement
expenditures in Moldova is weak and the overall procurement
environment is high- risk. While the procurement law
provides a reasonably sound basis for public procurement,
and will need to be amended to align it with the WTO
Agreement on Government Procurement. I t is further
undermined by the absence of implementing regulations.
Procurement practices are often inconsistent with the
procurement law, Primary among these is the heavy overuse of
the Single Source Procurement method, whereby the procuring
entity contracts directly with a single supplier, with n o
competition. Weaknesses in the law permit other bad
practices. Resources: While the NAGP is seen as providing a
valued service to procuring entities and is progressively
extending its coverage, its reach is limited at the local
government level. However, the Agency is not being held
accountable for its performance of its regulatory and
oversight functions and, because it is one of the bodies
which makes the Government's decisions on procurement,
it cannot act independently when reviewing bid protests.
Procuring entities lack the capacity to conduct procurement
effectively and in accordance with the procurement law, and
there is political interference in procurement decision
making. The report recommends that The current procurement
law should be amended, and the Government should enact a
comprehensive set of implementing regulations to underpin
the law. The position of Executive Director of the NAGP
should be filled immediately. The NAGP should be held more
accountable for the performance of its functions. New
institutional arrangements should be made for the
independent review of bid protests It is necessary to build
public sector capacity to undertake public procurement As a
short-term action, given the urgent need to train the
dedicated procurement staff of the 35 recently establish
territorial administrative units, the NAGP should conduct
training courses in public procurement for those units by
the end of 2003. |
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