A meeting of the heads of the secretariats of the parliaments in BiH was held on the improvement of procedures for public procurement

The second coordination meeting of the executive heads of the parliamentary secretariats in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the topic "Improvement of parliamentary procedures for public procurement—challenges and opportunities" was held today in the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska. The meeting was hosted in cooperation with the Mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OEBS) in BiH.

At the meeting, which was opened by the Secretary General of the National Assembly of Republic Srpska, Boran Bosancic, the importance of improving the public procurement process to strengthen capacity and efficiency in the work of parliaments was highlighted.

Bosancic pointed out that public procurement and the application of the Law on Public Procurement of BiH are essential topics, and that the goal of the meeting is to exchange the knowledge and experience of representatives of expert parliamentary services in this area.

He said that the goal is a comprehensive analysis of the existing procedures in order to eliminate all doubts and possible problems in practice.

"Professional services of parliaments are often forced to react quickly in order to avoid a halt in the work of the highest legislative institutions and, in this case, certain problems may arise in the process of public procurement due to vague or restrictive provisions of the law." Changes to the Law on Public Procurement of BiH are necessary to eliminate this. We agree that the goal of this law should not be to block parliamentary processes and activities, but to simplify procedures, to reach the best solutions in practice," said Bosancic.

The participants of the meeting emphasized the importance of harmonizing legislation and strengthening capacities in the field of public procurement, which, according to the European Commission and the conclusions of the European Parliament, represent one of the key components of public administration reform.

The officer for parliamentary programs of the OSCE Mission to BiH, Nina Sandrk, assessed that public procurement is not a technical process, but a mechanism that enables better work of parliaments.

"Public procurement is a strategic tool for achieving key goals of institutions. That is why it is important that the representatives of the parliamentary services jointly identify the biggest problems in this area. "All questions, proposals, and suggestions from the meeting will be submitted to the BiH Public Procurement Agency to implement public procurement procedures as effectively as possible," said Sandrk.

Participants of the meeting were: expert services of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska, the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Parliament of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Assembly of Brcko District, and the Department for Democratic Management of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina.