The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina adopted the Strategy for Public Procurement in Bosnia and Herzegovina for the period 2024-2028 and the Action Plan for its implementation, in order to strengthen capacities in this area and fulfill one of the priorities from the Opinion of the European Commission on BiH’s application for EU membership. in.
“The adoption of this strategy, which was prepared by the BiH Public Procurement Agency, creates the prerequisites for a modern, transparent, competitive and efficient public procurement system in accordance with European Union legislation and best practices,” the Council of Ministers announced.
The Council of Ministers says that the Strategy, in addition to the institutional framework, monitoring and legal protection, includes six strategic EU public procurement priorities, namely professionalization, the introduction of green and socially responsible public procurement, digitization, strengthening transparency, integrity and quality and the centralization of public procurement, as and increasing the access of small and medium-sized enterprises to the public procurement market.
The action plan, as an integral part of this strategy, contains specific goals and measures, along with a description of activities for implementation, with deadlines for execution, required financial and human resources, responsible institutions and other institutions that contribute to implementation, and lists the results and risks in those processes.
INITIATED ACTIVITIES FOR ACCESSION TO THE EU DIGITAL EUROPE PROGRAM
The Council of Ministers of BiH established the Proposal of the basis for concluding an agreement between the European Union, on the one hand, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the other hand, on participation in the Union’s program – Digital Europe (2021 – 2027), with the aim of ensuring faster digital transformation of society and economic recovery in BiH.
By joining this program, which is financed by the European Union, the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina wants to ensure strategic financial resources for responding to global digital challenges and access to Bosnia and Herzegovina projects in key areas: supercomputing, artificial intelligence, advanced digital skills and wide use of digital technologies.
The Ministry of Communications and Transport proposed the conclusion of this agreement in order to enable legal entities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to apply on an equal footing with entities from the member states of the European Union for the allocation of grants from EU funds to finance projects in these areas of digitization.
BiH’s accession to this program will enable the development of the information and communication technology sector and the IT industry, improve the competitiveness of the domestic economy and positively influence the increase of standards in BiH.
The proposed basis for concluding this agreement will be submitted to the BiH Presidency for further procedure.
PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION REFORM
The Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, on the proposal of the Office of the Coordinator for Public Administration Reform, passed the Decision on the appointment of members and deputy members of supervisory teams for the implementation of public administration reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina on behalf of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina in a new text and with accepted corrections at the session.
Representatives of the responsible institutions of the BiH Council of Ministers have been appointed to supervisory teams for six reform areas and, together with the appointed representatives of the governments of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Republika Srpska and Brčko District of BiH, will direct and supervise the reform processes and ensure operational support for the implementation of agreed measures.
Reform areas are policy making and coordination, public financial management, civil service and human resources management, accountability, better service provision and quality in this area, as well as digitization in the area of service provision, BHRT writes.
