On 5 July 2018, the PRECOP II project held in Kursk a regional workshop on “Strengthening legislation on procurement at regional and municipal levels in the Russian Federation". The event brought together over 50 representatives of the Federal and Regional Business Ombudsmen offices of the project’s pilot regions, executive and legislative bodies, specialised agencies dealing with procurement, municipal authorities, business and lawyers’ associations and other representatives of the expert community of the Kursk region.

Two Council of Europe experts presented and discussed with the participants the existing legislative framework regulating procurement processes at regional and municipal levels in the project’s 15 pilot regions and potential areas for improvement in line with applicable international standards and good practices. In addition, the participants provided replies to a specifically designed questionnaire aimed at identifying the main issues and areas that need to be examined in more detail.

Based on the discussions and a desk analysis of the legislative framework vis-à-vis international standards and good practices, the experts will now prepare a Technical Paper that will contain a comparative analysis and provide specific recommendations to address identified shortcomings and to further strengthen the legislation.