TIRANA, May 11 – Prime Minister Edi Rama said Albania has reached an advanced stage of progress in public procurement and in its position within European Union accession negotiations.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Reida Kashta (Shahollari), head of the Public Procurement Agency and negotiator for Chapter 5 on Public Procurement, Rama said several findings he referred to come from a detailed European Court of Auditors report on EU member states.
In that context, he highlighted indicators on competition and efficiency. The report notes declining competition in public contracts, low awareness of the importance of competition, and weak performance indicators in most EU countries. It also records that more than 40% of tenders in the EU involve only one bidder over a ten-year period, while average procurement duration has increased by around 50%.
At the same time, Rama said small and medium-sized enterprises still face limited participation, while publication rates remain insufficient in many cases.
Turning to Albania, he compared key indicators with EU averages. He said single-bidder contracts account for 12% in Albania, compared with 14% in EU member states on average. He also noted that Albania records 23.5% single-bidder contracts, a level comparable with several EU countries such as Sweden at 22.9%, Germany at 22.6%, Finland at 20.3% and France at 20%.
Meanwhile, he added that Albania averages 3.7 bidders per procurement procedure, above the EU average of 3.2.
Rama said all indicators show Albania is progressing in line with European standards and confirmed that the country remains strongly positioned in the negotiation process with the European Union.
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