On 15-17 December 2021, the Council of Europe Economic Crime and Cooperation Division (ECCD) organised an online workshop for officials from relevant procurement institutions in Western Balkans and Turkey on managing corruption risks in public procurement and contract execution.

As a follow-up to the regional assessment of corruption risks in public procurement conducted by the ECCD, the workshop provided an opportunity to present and address the key findings of the assessment throughout the sessions. The identified risks – pertaining to all phases of public contracting – were acknowledged by participants as being relevant in their jurisdictions.

Good practices to prevent those risk, such as e-procurement, and a sound procurement institutional set-up, were shared by Albanian and Serbian authorities. Participants were also introduced to alternative methodologies for conducting risk assessments, which can be instrumental in efficiently allocating resources for the prevention of corruption in tendering processes.

In addition, a full session was devoted to the presentation of available tools for combating corruption in public procurement, such as the use of integrity pacts, the organisation of trainings for procurement officials and the use of central purchasing bodies. Present stakeholders benefited from a presentation on best practices provided by a representative of the Balkan Tender Watch Coalition.

Finally, the workshop finished with the presentation of the Handbook to Identify and Prevent Corruption in Contract Execution, developed by the ECCD. The handbook provides practical guidance in the area of public procurement and examples of good practices related to contract execution and oversight. The document includes a description of the risks, possible indicators of their occurrence, and potential mitigation measures.

This activity was organized in the framework of the project “Action Against Economic Crime in South-East Europe and Turkey” and funded by the European Union and the Council of Europe “Horizontal Facility for the Western Balkans and Turkey” phase II.