AIS organization, known as Open Data Albania, has filed a lawsuit with the Constitutional Court, demanding partial abrogation of a Normative Act, which has the power of the law, namely Act no. 9, dated 16.12.2019 “On coping with the consequences of natural disasters”, approved by the Assembly of Albania by law no. 97, dated 18.12.2019, specifically the repeal of Chapter VI, Public Procurement Procedures, Articles 40 – 44, and Article 4, point 7 and point 9.

This Normative Act, which has the power of law, in the opinion and reasoning of our Organization, in its section on Procurement for coping with the consequences of natural disaster after the Earthquake of November 26th, 2019, violates the constitutional right of freedom of economic activity, provided in Article 11 of the Constitution.

Violating the Freedom of Economic Activity, it leaves room for inequality, clientelism, preferential contracting, favoritism, and Corruption to the detriment of Public Funds.

This Normative Act has established by Law the Type of Procedure, Deadlines for Participation, Deadlines for Appeal and Evaluation, bypassing the National Legislation on Public Procurement and restricting the right to competition and equality.

The interested parties in this Lawsuit include the Assembly and the Council of Ministers.

Some of the elements, where Act no. 9, which has the power of law, discriminates against economic freedom and public interest for efficient use of Public Money:

• It sets a Procedure where Competition is Not Guaranteed. Act no. 9 opts for an Accelerated Procedure and gives the Government the right to determine by Decision of Council of Ministers no. 199, dated 04.03.2020 a Restricted Procurement Procedure (two-stage procedure). This does not guarantee bidding, undermines the competition of operators, removes the process from the electronic system, and takes it to the second stage of negotiation at the table where the risk of clientelism is high. The Accelerated Procedure applies to a specific sector, where the number of operating operators is low. In this case, it is mainly construction works which are being procured (apartments and educational facilities) in this manner. The nature of this procurement in the context of the Albanian market of companies operating in the field of construction is very favorable and Accelerated and Restricted Procedures are not necessary.
• Restrictive deadlines for Submission of Documentation by economic operators, in the part of the Law that we seek to repeal. The deadline of only 10 days has drastically limited competition, as it is almost impossible to prepare a large set of documents and technical Bill of Quantities for a period of 10 days.
• Foreign Businesses are discriminated against. The 10-day deadline also excludes “de facto” offers from foreign operators. It is worth mentioning here that a foreign operator has the obligation to submit official documentation with an apostille stamp.
• The non-serious deadline of only 2 days for Complaining against the criteria of the procurement procedure, set by the Normative Act no. 9, is extremely restrictive for economic operators, who may claim unlawfulness of the qualification criteria. We clarify the fact that it is precisely the qualification criteria that create premises/incentives or make it impossible for operators to participate in a procurement procedure.
• On the other hand, the 3-day deadline for complaints to be handled by the Public Procurement Commission is completely non-objective. Law no. 9643 sets a deadline of 15 days for handling complaints, while Law no. 162/2020, sets a deadline of 30 days.
• Here too, the Legislator has shortened the deadlines for the evaluation of bids by 5 days. Considering that procurement procedures conducted based on normative act no. 9 are mainly procedures above the upper monetary threshold, and have a volume of documentation, it is clear that the 10-day deadline for bid evaluation puts in serious difficulty the quality of evaluation and the possibility of objective verification of all documentation submitted by bidders.
• Even in the value of contract insurance which is provided at 5% higher in the Normative Act compared to Law no. 9643 and law no. 162/2020, there is a step back and discrimination against economic operators that compete and sign accelerated procedures versus economic operators that compete or are selected winners in regular procurement procedures.

AIS files its lawsuit claiming suspension and abrogation of this Normative Act, which has the power of law, specifically concerning its part on Procurement, because its consequences affect the interests of the state, society, and individuals.

The contracting authorities would have no consequences from such suspension and repeal requested of the Constitutional Court (Suspension and Repeal), as the Reconstruction Fund can be still tendered through Law no. 162/2020 “On public procurement”, entered into force on 31 March 2021, as an organic law that fully regulates the field of public procurement, drafted in line with the directives of the EU legislation on procurement, which provides solutions for any situations, whether emergency or regular situations, that a contracting authority might face.

The organization has monitored All Contracts Related to the Post-Earthquake Reconstruction Program of November 26^th, 2019. So far, 33.14 billion Lekë have been tendered for 337 contracts with 192 Unions of Operators. Click to get acquainted with the list of contracts and contractors.

AIS, known as Open Data Albania, is registered as a legal entity – non-profit organization – by decision of Tirana Judicial District Court no. 3048, dated 28.03.2011.

The organization is implementing Projects related to Expenditures, Procurement, Public Contracting, Good Governance and Anti-Corruption Issues, some of which are as follows:

• OpenData, Access and Transparency for Sectors Exposed to Corruption and at Risk of Corruption.
• OpenContractingAlbania Risk Assessment & RedFlag
• Public Contracts in States of Natural Disasters, Strengthening Independent Monitoring Mechanisms

AIS has established database systems for tendering and Contracting as Open Procurement Albania http://openprocurement.al/, contract monitoring system State Reconstruction Program http://openprocurement.al/en/tender/rindertimi
Risk assessment system (automatically) in tendering http://openprocurement.al/en/index/redflag
Database for monitoring Public Expenditure and Integrity of Elected and High Level Appointed Public Officials http://spending.data.al/

The lawsuit filed in the Constitutional Court can be found on the website of Followthemoney.Al

Organizata AIS / Open Data Albania në kuadër të zbatimit të projektit me titull Monitorim Qytetar dhe Transparencë mbi Kontraktor të Bashkive për Shërbime dhe Investime Publike I mbështetur nga  Lëviz Albania,një projekt i Agjencisë Zvicerane për Zhvillim dhe Bashkëpunim SDC, mbajti në datat 01-02 Tetor në Bashkinë Kamëz një trajnim për Rritje Kapacitetesh dhe Fuqizim të aktorëve civil Aktivist në Antikorrupsion.

Në trajnim morën pjesë 15 pjesëmarrës nga të cilët 13 gra dhe 2 burra.

Agenda e trajnimit këtu

Please find below an update on Albania’s situation with Covid-19, for the week 27.09.2021- 03.10.2021, which AIS / Open Data Albania is providing. Find Data and Charts on Covid-19 updated on a daily basis at http://www.open.data.al/covid-19/

As per the last public statement, the number of Vaccinated in the country is:

–           Complete vaccination with 2 doses 805 420 Persons
–           Vaccination with the First Dose 950 620 Persons
–           In Percentage, it results that 28.4 % of the Population is Fully Vaccinated.
–           In Percentage, it results that 40.2 % of the Population above 15 years is Fully Vaccinated.

The Albanian state has so far applied Vaccination with AstraZeneca; Pfizer BioNTech; Sinovac CoronaVac; Gamaleya – Sputnik V. (Linked all documents of our Government for Vaccine Administration http://openprocurement.al/en/htender/covid/title/KONTRAKTIME%20VAKSINIM%20COV-2?   )

Indicators as of October 3^rd, 2021, Infections, Hospitalizations and Fatalities:

–           New Cases for 27^th September – 3^rd October 3 901

–           People Testes 27^th September – 3^rd October 26 029
–           Number of Fatalities for last week, 27^th September – 3^th October – 73 (Increase from same week 27^th September – 3^rd October of prior year.)
–           Number of active cases on 3^rd October 2021 – 8 951
–           Hospitalization 3^rd October 2021 – 182 (Reduction from same day 3^rd October of prior year.)
–           Total Number of Fatalities 2 713
–           Total Number of Infected People 171 794
–           Number of recovered patients (27^th September – 3^rd October) 6 511
–           Infected Number / Tested Number for 27^th September – 3^rd October – 14.9% (Increase from prior week)
–           Fatalities/Infected Ratio for 27^th September – 3^rd October – 1.87% (Increase from prior week)
–           Hospitalized /Active cases as per 3^rd October 2021 – 2.03% (Increase from prior week)
–           Total Population of Albania 2 829 741.
–           Population above 15 years 2 362 375.

The same week, 27^th September – 3^rd October, last year (27^th September – 3^rd October, 2020) there were: 17 deaths, comparing to that for the same week we have 56 more deaths in 2021. (This year we have an increase from same week prior year)
A total of 964 new cases and 6424 tests for (27^th September – 3^rd October, 2020). (This year we have an increase from same week prior year)
Active on the 3^rd were 5189 people (27^th September – 3^rd October, 2020). (This year we have an increase from same week prior year)
200 people were hospitalized on the 3^rd October 2020.  (This year we have a reduction from same week prior year)
Fatalities/Infected Ratio for 27^th September – 3^th October 2020= 17/964*100=1.76% (This year we have an increase from same week prior year)

We see that there is generally an ascending trend from last year.

In the portal created by AIS http://www.open.data.al/covid-19 /  the data for Covid -19 are being updated daily. You will receive a weekly update on Covid 19, Vaccinations, Infections, Hospitalizations, and Fatalities in the coming weeks.

AIS databases, #Information, #Transparency, and #Accountability

–           Open Procurement Albania all Covid-19 Contracting http://openprocurement.al/sq/htender/covid
–           Open Data Albania #FollowTheMoney http://ndiqparate.al/en/10789-2/
–           Open Spending Albania http://spending.data.al/en
–           Open Corporates Albania http://opencorporates.al/

StaySafe!!!

Please find below an update on Albania’s situation with Covid-19, for the week 07.09.2021 – 12.09.2021, which AIS / Open Data Albania is providing. Find Data and Charts on Covid-19 updated on a daily basis at http://www.open.data.al/covid-19/

As per the last public statement, the number of Vaccinated in the country is:

–           Complete vaccination with 2 doses 702 833 Persons

–           Vaccination with the First Dose 895 363 Persons

–           In Percentage, it results that 24.8 % of the Population is Fully Vaccinated.

–           In Percentage, it results that 29.7 % of the Population above 15 years is Fully Vaccinated.

The Albanian state has so far applied Vaccination with AstraZeneca; Pfizer BioNTech; Sinovac CoronaVac; Gamaleya – Sputnik V. (Linked all documents of our Government for Vaccine Administration http://openprocurement.al/en/htender/covid/title/KONTRAKTIME%20VAKSINIM%20COV-2?   )

Indicators as of September 12,  2021, Infections, Hospitalizations, and Fatalities:

– New Cases for 7^th – 12^th September 5 527

– People Testes 7^th – 12^th September 33 987

– Number of Fatalities for last week,  7^th – 12^th September – 24 ( Increase from same week 7^th – 12^th September of  prior year.)

– Number of active cases on 12 September 2021  – 12 766

-Hospitalization  12 September  2021 – 175 ( Increase from same week 7^th – 12^th September of  prior year.)

– Total Number of Fatalities 2 543

– Total Number of Infected People  157 026

– Number of recovered patients (7^th – 12^th September) 4845

-Infected Number / Tested Number for 7^th – 12^th September – 16.2% (Increase from prior week)

-Fatalities/Infected Ratio for 7^th – 12^th September – 0.43% (Increase from prior week)

-Hospitalized /Active cases as per 12 September 2021 – 1.37 % (Increase from prior week)

– Total Population of Albania 2 829 741.

– Population above 15 years  2 362 375.

The same week, September 7-12, last year (September 7-12, 2020) there were: 14 deaths, comparing to that for the same week we have 10 more deaths in 2021. ( This year we have an increase from the same week prior year)

A total of 930 new cases and 5123 tests for (September 7-12, 2020). (This year we have an increase from the same week prior year)

Active on the 12th were 4361 people (September 7-12, 2020). (This year we have an increase from the same week prior year)

174 people were hospitalized on the 12^th of September 2020.  (This year we have an increase from the same week prior year)

Fatalities/Infected Ratio for September 2020 = 14/930*100=1.5%

We see that there is generally an ascending trend from last year.

In the portal created by AIS http://www.open.data.al/covid-19 /  the data for Covid -19 are being updated daily. We will publish a weekly update on Covid 19, Vaccinations, Infections, Hospitalizations, and Fatalities in the coming weeks.

AIS databases, #Information, #Transparency, and #Accountability

-Open Procurement Albania all Covid-19 Contracting http://openprocurement.al/sq/htender/covid

-Open Data Albania #FollowTheMoney http://ndiqparate.al/en/10789-2/

-Open Spending Albania http://spending.data.al/en

-Open Corporates Albania http://opencorporates.al/

StaySafe!!