Corruption is hitting Kosovo through public procurement

Enhancing tender specifications, adapting to preferred companies, inadequate bidding assessment and lack of respect for contract enforcement are deemed potential for corruption distribution, writes “Koha Ditore” today.

This is damaging the state budget, businesses and, therefore, the country's economic development. Through public procurement, companies and businesses that have been close to politics have been favoured, resulting in strong discrimination and selective access to the business environment. Political party funders are often the biggest tender beneficiaries in public institutions. Representatives of civil society as well as various reports, whether local or international, say so.

Even the European Commission and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) have estimated that public procurement is one of the most corrupt sectors in Kosovo. That, in turn, is seen as disturbing for competition among companies, transparency and citizens' trust in public institutions.

Nearly 600m euros a year of Kosovo's budget is spent on public procurement, which for years in local and international reports was considered a source of corruption in the country.