TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
AIS Newsletter October-November 2024
Corruption in Tendering. The Prime Minister proposes the use of AI, the opposition recommends AIS’s Open Procurement Albania platform, a high-tech tool where 40% of procedures are identified as risky Tracking Corruption through Open Data and Evidence. Training for activists and journalistsEmpowering Fact-Based Journalism – A DataThon with Investigative Journalists. Instilling the Watchdog Culture 
Corruption in Tendering. The Prime Minister proposes the use of AI, the opposition recommends AIS’s Open Procurement Albania platform, a high-tech tool where 40% of procedures are identified as risky
The Prime Minister has proposed an Anti-Corruption Reform introducing the use of Artificial Intelligence in Public Procurement. The Parliamentary opposition, represented by Jorida Tabaku, MP and Chairwoman of the Incinerator Investigative Committee, suggested that the Government should, instead, use the platform Open Procurement Albania,a technological tool created by the organization AIS, aiming to identify corruption cases in tendering. The MP Tabaku shared her statement in an interview with Balkan Insight in an article exploring the potential of AI in procurement. The Open Data platform for Public Procurement creates a passport for each tender, based on the Open Contracting standard, along with detecting procedures exposed to risk of corruption. Around 40% of tenders processed by the algorithm have been identified as risky and marked with a RedFlag. The platform was created in 2016. In the last 12 months, SPAK (Special Prosecution Office) has investigated 8 mayors and numerous public officials for the criminal offense of “inequality in tenders”. Notably, all these investigations align with the procurement procedures marked with RedFlag, which have been previously published in Mass Media investigations. The opposition has exposed corrupt tenders, identified by the AIS' organization’s platform in Parliament. However, during 2024, the Platform for Transparent Procurement faced difficulties in securing funding to continue its operations as a high-tech tool for identifying potential corruption cases.
Tracking Corruption through Open Data and Evidence. Training for activists and journalists
A total of 85 young activists and journalists have been trained by the AIS organization on the practical aspects of Tracking Corruption through Open Data and Evidence-Based Data. The final session of this training took place on October 11-12th, as part of the activities of the EU4 Rule of Law: Citizens Engagement for Public Integrity (CEPI) project in the Western Balkans and Turkey, funded by the European Union. The use of Open Data in preventing and combating corruption is part of the mission and daily work of the AIS organization. Our organization’s work in the creation and operation of Databases that ensure transparency and risk assessment in the distribution of Public Money and Contracts is unique in its kind in our country. More specifically, we operate the Spending Data Albania, Open Procurement Albania, dhe Open Corporates Albania databases.We facilitate civil society actions in Preventing and Combating Corruption through access to our databases and first- hand data. This data infrastructure needs, where information is published with high quality and in manner that allows connections between datasets, encourages activists and journalists to join our training sessions on Using Open Data in Fighting Corruption. The EU4 Rule of Law project is implemented by Transparency International and partner organizations.
Empowering Fact-Based Journalism – A DataThon with Investigative Journalists. Instilling the Watchdog Culture
A DataThon for media professionals, held on November 1-2, 2024 in Berat, brought together 25 leading investigative journalists from prestigious TV’s and newspapers, such as Top Channel; A2 CNN; Klan News; Syri Tv; News 24; ABC News; Panorama; Vizion Plus; MCN TV etc.For two consecutive days, journalists, mentored by AIS staff, worked together to write stories on corruption and issues in Public Procurement. The slogan of this event was Empowering Fact- Based Journalism. Dozens of investigations and media stories are published every month, based on the AIS’ high-quality open data, database. Journalists are the main partners in our work to promote transparency through open data. Media professionals have uncovered numerous cases of public fund misuse and contracts irregularities, preventing corruption cases or instilling a watchdog culture, along with strengthening civic accountability. AIS organizes creative events annually such as DataThon (Data Marathon), in which civil society actors, journalists and young students are equipped with skills to effectively use open data. Since December 2011, AIS has been a promoter of activities for transparency and citizen participation such as DataThon, Hackathon or Diplohack Tirana and Albania. This DataThon was supported by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).
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