Romania creates new system to automatically detect conflict of interest in public auctions

Romania wants to implement a new system to automatically detect the conflicts of interest in public acquisition procedures. The project, which costs some EUR 6.8 million, was presented by the National Integrity Agency (ANI). Its pilot project is already being tested. The system, called PREVENT, checks potential conflicts of interest before-hand, before the public acquisition process ends. Implementing the project will cost some EUR 30 million, most of which paid for by the European Union. The country started working on this system in December 2013, and will have it ready in 2015. The system will automatically detect whether participants in the public bid are relatives, or are connected to people in the contracting institution’s management, according to Hotnews.ro. The system will then issue a warning, which will be sent to the contracting institution. Once functional, the system will also bring a long a new set of integrity documents that all participants have to fill in before submitting files for a public auction. The PREVENT system is being created by a consortium made of Siveco, UTI Grup, SAP and Computer Sharing. editor@romania-insider.com