Public procurement under journalists' scrutiny

Journalists of district publications during two years supervised how the money was spend in public procurement and identified a number of shortcomings in selecting service providers, Info-Prim Neo reports. The campaign “Public Money Should be Accounted for” was coordinated by the Independent Press Association. In a round-up news conference, the association's head Petru Macovei said there were tracked a number of mistakes made by the local public authorities when planning and making public acquisitions and even when checking their quality. According to Petru Macovei, violations of the legislation when selecting the companies that won the public tender contests were identified in a number of towns. There were cases when the working groups on public procurement included relatives of the mayors or when there were selected companies in which the mayor's relatives hold shares. All these irregularities result from the imperfect legislation. “The main aim of this campaign was to motivate the people to take part in public inspection. Results were achieved as the people now know how these tender contests should take place. The people also informed about cases when the public money was misused,” said Petru Macovei. The head of the Public Procurement Agency Stefan Creanga said the transparency of public procurement is equal to efficiency, competition, quality, little money and a large volume of goods of a high quality. “This project helped the companies realize the need of taking part in tender contests. The journalists revealed information about the violations committed and the results achieved,” he stated. The campaign was carried out in the districts of Soroca, Ungheni, Rezina, Cimislia, Orhei, Criuleni, and in the municipalities of Chisinau and Balti. This year, tt will continue in Chisinau and in Balti. The people, together with the NGOs and journalists, will supervise how the public tender contests are held. The campaign “Public Money Should be Accounted for” was conducted by the Independent Press Association and Soros Foundation - Moldova, which financed the €100,000 project.