7 January 2020, Top Story Media Programme: 1 in 3 tenders with no fair competition. Open data promote investigative journalism and enable reporting of corruption over Albanian taxpayers’ money

On January 7th, Top Story, an investigative show, reported on forms of fraud with public procurement tenders in the country. Journalist Entela Barjamaj and the national Top Channel TV team introduced shocking facts on Top Story, such as one in every three tenders being conducted without fair competition. 300 million Euros of taxpayers’ money seem to be lost every year due to abuse with, and misappropriation of, clientelist tenders.

AIS, the organization promoting open data in Albania contributed to this courageous television investigation through data released from three important open data databases. Namely:

Data concerning tenders and contracts with competition issues published on Open Procurement Albania
data concerning clientelist companies published on Open Corporates Albania
and data concerning payments from the state budget published on Spending Data Albania.

In addition to open data released from our databases, including clear and denouncing arguments, contribution to this programme was also made by Director Aranita Brahaj, who elaborated on the shortcomings of tender procedures.

Corruption is one of the most problematic issues for the country. Justice institutions or anticorruption mechanisms in the country are weak to non-existent. Nevertheless, media and watchdog organisations continue to report facts and contribute against abuse with public money. For four years, AIS has been publishing data and assessing risk of tender irregularities, known as Procurement RedFlag, providing information and identifying issues with every tender conducted by municipalities, the Albanian Development Fund, the Albanian Road Authority, the health sector, and public-owned companies.