Romania: E-Procurement Remedy

Public procurement plays a major role in most economies. In OECD countries, public procurement accounts for 15% of GDP and in the new EU member states like Romania the number is approximately 16%.

Contracts for public works can comprise large, long-term infrastructure contracts, such as building utilities and roads, but also smaller, shorter contracts like supplying public institutions with goods and materials. Given the extent and complexity of public procurement, this activity is particularly vulnerable to abuses.

Special tools such as e-procurement can increase transparency, efficiency and lower costs of government activities, assuming that the necessary legal framework and technology infrastructure are implemented. Taking into account the importance of public procurement, Doing Business is currently developing a new set of indicators to reflect procurement practices in the electricity sector around the world.

A country where e-procurement has been successfully implemented is Romania. Since January 2007, all public procurement announcements of the Romanian government have to be published on the national portal “e-Licitatie’’ (www.e-licitatie.ro) and are transferred to the EU Official Journal. It has hence become easier and faster for companies in Romania to participate in public procurement by simplifying access to information and to the bidding process, which is especially important for SMEs.

Today, every company wishing to learn about contracts with the Romanian government can visit the national e-procurement website and register as a supplier.

E-procurement in Romania has come a long way from when it started as a pilot project in March 2002. The lack of secure digital technology and long-term procurement strategy hampered implementation. To face those challenges, the Romanian government involved key stakeholders, launched advertising campaigns, created training programs and put an emphasis on SME-user friendliness. In addition, a gradual implementation and strong political commitment helped to make it successful.

Even though challenges remain, the introduction of e-procurement can be considered successful. In 2007, 9,000 contracting authorities used this modern public procurement facility and 160,000 notices and invitations to tender have been published through e-licitatie.

Croatia and Montenegro have followed Romania’s example and put the introduction and implementation of e-procurement on the top of their lists of priority reforms to fight abuses in public procurement.