The Competition Council of Latvia (the CC), the Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (the CPCB) and the Procurement Monitoring Bureau (PMB) within the joint two-year cycle of seminars have educated 600 participants in 11 cities of Latvia. The closing seminar was organised in Riga, the capital city of Latvia, at the premises of the largest association of entrepreneurs – Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The closing event gathered 100 procurement organizers and participants.
In Latvia there is high bid-rigging risk in public procurements. In the last five years, the CC has detected 21 prohibited agreements in public procurements and imposed 11.9 million euros fines on 103 companies. The problems of the field of procurements are also promoted by procurement organizers because tenders are announced with competition restricting conditions thus groundlessly preventing separate entrepreneurs from offering their services.
Taking into consideration the significance of procurements – to invest public funds as efficiently as possible – the CC, the CPCB and the PMB teamed up in a joint cycle of seminars to improve knowledge of procurement organizers and tenderers across various competences. Special attention at these seminars was paid to the most frequently observed problems while preparing tender regulations, participating in procurement procedures and eventually examining tenders submitted by tenderers.
The Chairwoman of the CC Skaidrīte Ābrama states: “This cycle of seminars embodies very significant values for each state administration or local government authority – openness and cooperation. During these two years, by visiting procurement organizers and tenderers in regions of Latvia, the CC, the CPCB and the PMB have demonstrated successful cooperation in education and investigation activities, and openness towards procurement organizers and tenderers. The number of those who benefit from this educational campaign is much higher than the number of seminar participants – it is the entire public.”
Within the framework of the cycle of seminars “For Fair Entrepreneurship”, the CC, the CPCB and the PMB visited 11 cities of Latvia in 2017 and 2018 – Bauska, Liepaja, Daugavpils, Jelgava, Jurmala, Jekabpils, Rezekne, Kuldiga, Ventspils, Valmiera and Riga.