The Republic of Croatia is currently preparing for the accession to the EU. It will therefore need to harmonize its public procurement practices with those in the EUas well as align its national legislation with the so-called acquis communautaire.

In order to achieve these goals the Public Procurement Office has been conducting a CARDS Twinning Project "Strengthening the Croatian Public Procurement System" with its twinning partner – a consortium of German and Slovenian consultants. The Project which is worth 1.000.000 euros was launched in June 2005 and its implementation is presently in its final stages.

The main goal of the Project is to contribute to the development of a reliable and transparent public procurement system in the Republic of Croatia. This goal is to be achieved through the ever increasing level of alignment of the national legislation with the EU legislative framework, the Public Procurement Office’s institutional strengthening, and raising the transparency and competitiveness of the Croatian public procurement system.

Component 1: Strengthening the legal, institutional and methodological framework of the Croatian public procurement system

The component is comprised of the following activities: drawing up a new proposal of the Public Procurement Act with the aim to achieve its full harmonization with the acquis communautaire in the field of public procurement, drafting the by-laws as well as the organizational and administrative development plan of the Public Procurement Office which will include the creation of the IT system for a data-base of the Office, and publishing the Manual for procuring entities and Manual for suppliers.

Subsequently there will be an analysis of the existing organization of the public procurement within the procuring entities obliged to adhere to the Public Procurement Act. The results of the analysis will serve as a basis for the proposal regarding the internal organization. The latter will aim at achieving an efficient and effective application of the public procurement procedures.

Component 2: Strengthening professional skills of the Public Procurement Office’s staff, the personnel employed by other procuring entities, and potential suppliers

The main objectives to be achieved are as follows: the creation of the National Training Program for the future certified experts in the field of public procurement, drafting the certification system and training for 20 to 30 instructors (the first round of which would include the PPO’s staff), organizing study trips to the EU Member States with the goal of adopting the best practice model, conducting seminars and workshops for the participants in the procuring system, etc.  

Component 3: Promoting awareness about the new public procurement system

The main objectives to be achieved under this component are: developing and improving the PPO’s website www.javnanabava.hr, publishing public procurement quarterly news bulletin, raising public’s awareness of the Project and achieving greater transparency of the Public Procurement Office and thus facilitating the operation of the participants in the public procurement system.