Monitoring Flood Aid Public Procurement in Serbia

The project Monitoring Flood Aid Public Procurement in Serbia is aimed to enlighten the process of reconstruction of Serbia after disastrous floods that occurred in May 2014, with special focus on public procurement implemented by the Government Office for Reconstruction and Flood Relief, public enterprises and municipalities. Monitoring would thus allow citizens of Serbia (many of whom donated money for renewal), national and international donors, and public institutions, to obtain an independent assessment of the way aid funds are used and whether special procurement procedures were implemented in accordance with the law. Furthermore, the very fact that monitoring will be conducted is expected to influence actions of government bodies, public enterprises and municipalities and to increase their transparency, accountability in general and effectiveness, providing in that way better use of scarce funds. The ultimate goal of monitoring is to increase the trust of citizens and other potential donors in the system and thus to influence the collection of a greater amount of aid. Parliament adopted the Law on post-flood Rehabilitation in the Republic of Serbia (Official Gazette of Republic of Serbia, No. 75/14), defining competences of newly established Government’s office and special public procurement procedures in July 2014.