AIS proposals for the draft Albania’s OGP Action Plan 2016 – 2018

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The Albanian Institute of Science (AIS), an organization that promoted open and transparent data, which is also engaged as a member of the Coalition for Open Governance Partnership (OGP) for Albania, has, for the third time, become part of the consultations with the Government of Albania in drafting an OGP Action Plan. Aiming at contributing to the efforts for open governance as good governance, AIS proposes some commitments that the Government and its Partners should undertake in being part of the Action Plan for OGP fir the two coming years, 2016 – 2018:

Suggestion no. 1: Commitment to Open Contracting Standards. Publication of public contracts using the Open Data format.

Government Implementation Agency(ies): Council of Ministers, Ministry for Relationships with the Parliament, and the Ministry for Economic Development

Non-Government Partner: AIS, etc.

Potential Supporters: World Bank

The Albanian Government needs to commit to applying Open Contracting standards. This is the trend followed by states and transparency actors in their efforts for open information about public contracts and the procedure followed until their finalization. Therefore the Government of Albania may consider abiding by principles of transparency and public access in drafting the new law on Public Procurement. Such law shall have to consider introducing an obligation for publishing every extract of contracts for public works, supplies of goods and services, PPPs or concessions, public rent, sales of public assets, and loan contracts, or public loans contract at the local and central level. The same obligation must also be applicable to the publication of the donation contracts with public institutions, and to online access.

It must also be considered to use the Open Data format in creating the Concessionary Register on the basis of the Law on Concessions and PPPs, and the Decision of the Council of Ministers, ensuring protection of the commercial secret and intellectual property.

Suggestion no. 2: Local Government Unit Budgets by their revenue structures 

Ministry for Local Affairs; Ministry of Finances

Potential supporters and partners: UNDP; Swiss Government; USAI; etc.

The Law on Local Government Finances must consider introducing an obligation for local government units to publish the structure of their revenues abiding to the Open Spending standards. This can be achieved in cooperation with the non-governmental sector and with the financial support of programs for local government planning or assistance instruments for anti-corruption (including IPA instruments). A model of the Open Budget of Local Government shall be published in May in the framework of the USAID Program, PLGP.

Suggestion no. 3 Publication of the annual declaration of assets for high officials

National Coordinator against Corruption, Ministry for Local Affairs, Ministry of Justice

Partners from the Non-Governmental Sector: AIS; Association of Journalists for Justice; BIRN Albania, etc.

Support Partners: EU instrument IPA Anti-Corruption; USAID, etc.

Control of Assets and Conflict of Interests is an interesting moment, which is also related with the implementation of the law on decriminalization, and the justice system reform. The public in Albania has the right of access to information on declared incomes and assets. Such access, however, is limited to the will and performance of the monitoring parties and the institution that owns the database (High Inspectorate). Currently, different countries apply the option of (additional) access to, and control of such information. In simple words, the declarations of elected officials and high officials are published online. This would have to start first with the judges and representatives of the justice system, who are twice subject to the control of the conflict of interest. 1. As any other high official (Law on HIDACCI) and 2.  Subject to the provisions of the Code of Procedures (review of court cases). Thus, a judge may not adjudicate a party in the court process, if the same party is the employer of a family member of the judge, or the buying/selling party in a contract involving the judge or someone rom his/her family. Having access to the declarations of interest, the other party in the process has more information if its interests are manipulated due to the judge’s conflict of interest.

Finally, our organization welcomes any discussions, public hearings, coordination, and joint engagement aiming at reaching concrete results for open and transparent governance

Improvement of the Living Conditions for the Roma Community Seven municipalities reconstruct Roma houses.

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The Albanian Institute of Science (AIS), through its Open Local Government Procurement (OpenLGP) enables monitoring of all public procurement processes carried out by the 61 local government units in the country. The project focuses on every public tender and contract (of any value) carried out from July 2015 onward. Transparency of Public Contracts is important not only as part of the transparency over spending of public funds, but also for the fact that the award and execution of such contracts influences the quality of life and services for various communities.

Through this email, we are sharing with you some information about some public procurement processes and public contracts executed for the Construction or Reconstruction of Roma and Egyptian houses. These contracts are published on OpenLGP  and concern the Roma community in the seven following municipalities:

  1. Municipality of Saranda announced an open tender procedure on 24. 08. 2015 for Reconstruction of 6 houses of Roma and Egyptian Community. The fund limit (VAT excl.) for the Reconstruction of the 6 houses was 2 750 000 lekë. There were 8 economic operators, which participated in the tender process. The public contract was signed on 6. 10. 2015 with Shendelli SHPK. The contract term was 20 days.
  2. Municipality of  Mirdita announced an open tender procedure on 31. 08. 2015 for Reconstruction of 15 (fifteen) houses of Roma and Egyptian community, Municipality of Mirdita, Rrëshen. The fund limit (VAT excl.) for this tender was 4 416 670 lekë. The tender was cancelled in the first stage, because none of the participants met the criteria. The tender was re-announced, and 5 economic operators participated. The contract was signed with AEK MUNELLA SHPK (on 11.11. 2015). The agreed implementation timeframe was 1 month from the date the contract was signed.
  3. Municipality of Lezha announced that it had signed a contract with Junik SHPK on 28.12. 2015 by a negotiation procedure. The value of the contract (VAT Incl.) was 3 815 200 lekë for Construction of social houses for 8 (eight) Roma families.
  4. Municipality of Divjaka announced a tender procedure on 4. 03. 2016 through a Request for Proposal for the Reconstruction of Houses of Roma and Egyptian Community in the Administrative Unit of Grabian (18 families), Municipality of Divjaka. The fund limit (VAT excl.) was 8 514 590 lekë. The tender was cancelled for Mistakes with the Calculations of the Bill of Quantities. It was then re-announced, but no announcement is yet made about the winner or a contract signed.
  5. Municipality of Rrogozhina announced an open tender procedure on 10. 03. 2015 for Construction of 2-storey Social Houses for Roma and Egyptian Community in the Municipality of Rrogozhina. The tender will take place on 30 March, and the tender documentation specifies that the funds are from the World Bank. You will find information about the tender process and the winner of the public contract in the coming weeks on the updated information under the Transparent Procurement section.
  6. The Municipality of Kruja has announced an open tender on 16. 03. 2016 with a fund limit (VAT excl.) of 18 122 330 All for Construction and Reconstruction of 35 Houses of Rom Community, Village of Arrameras Fushë-Krujë. The tender will take place on 8. 04. 2016 and the contract validity is 4 months.
  7. The Municipality of Elbasan announced a Request for Proposals procedure on 16. 03. 2016 for the Improvement of the Living Conditions for Roma and Egyptian Community in Lagja 5 Maji. The fund limit for the tender was 5 522 100 ALL. The deadline for the submission of the tender documentation was only 14 days, and the winner is expected to be announced on 29. 03. 2015.

Other municipalities, where there are Roma communities in need, have not yet announced any tenders or public contracts during July 2015 – March 2016 in this area. OpenLGP Transparent Procurement invites you to learn more in the coming days about the progress of the public procurement processes and public contracts for improving the living conditions of communities in need. We also invite investigative journalists and local organizations involved in monitoring the performance of local government units to observe in the field the efficiency of the execution of the signed public contracts.

Open Local Government Procurement OpenLGP is a project implemented by AIS, an organization that promotes Open Data Albania.

Open LGP Albania Project presented at Personal Forum Democracy, Poland 2016

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The Personal Forum Democracy 2016 took place on 17 and 18 March in Gdansk, Poland, for Central and Eastern Europe (PFD 2016). This forum is led every year in Poland as an effort of the civil society to use technology for democratization and civil engagement. The speakers and workshop moderators this year focused on how we can bring people together to encourage public debate. Citizens’ participation, use of technology for transparency, and awareness through open are subject to dozens of civil society programs in Central and Eastern European countries.

The PFD 2016 included also a presentation of AIS Project on monitoring local government public procurement and contracts, i.e. Open Local Government Procurement (OpenLGP). The presentation was part of the Monitoring Procurements – Experiences from Albania and Hungary workshop. The three moderators of this workshop were Shefiko HAJNA from AIS, Anita KONSCIK from K-Monitor, and Eva MEQEMEJA from AIS. The two models and portals developed by the civil society in Albania and Hungary provide instruments for citizens to monitor how their governments procure works, services, or purchases, using public money. Making tenders transparent and easy to be monitored by the citizens, each program leads also to taxpayers being involved in checking for accountability. The data opened regarding public procurement carry clear and comprehensive information about values, deadlines, quality of competition, and subject of procurements. The information reveals also the areas and contracts, which pose a risk of abuse or corruption. The workshop was attended by a great number of participants. The regional organizations showed an interest in getting involved in the process of opening information for Open Procurements and Open Contracting.

This presentation held in the context of the Personal Forum Democracy 2016 precedes a workshop focused on Civil Monitoring of Public Procurements and Contracts for the countries of the region (Serbia, Montenegro, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, etc.), which is going to be held in July in Tirana. Our program OpenLGP is being developed as an efforts for open data and civil monitoring with the support of the National Endowment for Democracy NED.

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Java e Interneti 2016 / Get Online Week 2016

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Fuqizohu, Punësohu

Instituti Shqiptar i Shkencave në partneritet me Telecentre Europe organizon për të pestin vit në Shqipëri  fushatën vjetore Get Online Week për fuqizimin dixhital. Ky event mbahet ne datat 14 deri 20 Mars në mbarë Europën.

Qëllim i kësaj fushate është nxitja dhe aftësimi i sa më shumë personave në përdorimin e internetit. Në fokus janë moshat e reja dhe edukimi i përdorimit të internetit për punësim dhe edukim cilësore. Në Europë tregu i punës kërkon çdo ditë me mijëra profesionist që njohin internetin dhe teknologjinë. Por ndërsa kërkesa për punë me pagesë të mirë është e kënaqshme, njerëzit që kanë aftësi të punojnë janë më pak se kërkesa. Kjo Javë Promovuese synon ti nxis Europianët të Fuqizohen dhe Punësohen në këtë treg pune.

Në Shqipëri kjo javë do të shënojë trajnimin e të rinjve të shkollave të mesme publike dhe studentëve; aplikimin e një sondazhi që ndihmon të kuptojë sa e përdorin internetin grupmoshat dhe profesionet e ndryshme si dhe mjaft evente mediatike që promovojnë aftësimin profesional në teknologjinë e informacionit.

gow2016

 

AIS vs. SP, SMI, and DP over Electoral Spending Transparency. AIS request the Administrative Court of Appeal to accelerate the court proceedings

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In the context of the court proceedings and our efforts to force the political parties to provide the public with real time (during the election) data about the Financing of their Electoral Campaign, we are sharing with you some information about the latest developments.

Thus, AIS has filed a request with the Administrative Court of Appeal, asking it to: Abrogate of Decision no. 44, dated 22.07.2015 of the Commissioner for the Right to Information and Protection of Personal Data.  Force the political parties to give the complainant (AIS) the information about the financing of their electoral campaign requested on 09.06.2015.

The complainant in this process is: AIS, a non-profitable organization.

Defendants include: the Commissioner for the Right to Information, DP, SP, and SMI.

The case is registered with the court on 18.01.2016. The announcement of the Decision of the Court of First Instance, and the Transfer of the Case File to the Administrative Court of Appeal were delayed by two months. The court has drawn a lot, as a result of which the case is assigned to Judge Artur Malaj. Pending the court decision, AIS is afraid of potential prolongation and delays as a result of the technical workload of the administrative court.

In this context, AIS notes that the purpose of this court case, and the importance it has for the public interest requires the case to be adjudicated in due time, and without years-long prolongation. If the adjudication is prolonged and not finalized before the start of the next electoral campaign (2017), the purpose of the case and its adjudication are no longer important or relevant. In addition, a final interpretation and court decision would contribute to the process of debate and work for potential legal amendments in the framework of the Electoral Reform scheduled to be made and finalized within 2016.

Therefore, AIS in its capacity as the complainant in this court case, addressed the Administrative Court of Appeal, its Chief Judge Kastriot Selita, the case rapporteur, Judge Artur Malaj, and asked them to accelerate the court trial to as a short timeframe as possible.

 

Let me also remind you that our claim to real-time information about the financing of the electoral parties is based on Article 9 of the Constitution, point 3 “The financial resources of the political parties and their spending shall always be made public”.

 

Please find below a copy of the request made to the Administrative Court of Appeal for an Acceleration of Trial

Request for acceleration of adjudication

Copy of the second  request made to the Administrative Court of Appeal for an Acceleration of Trial

Second request for acceleration of adjudication

Albania ranked in 37th position in the Global Open Data Index 2015

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In the Global Open Data Index recently published, Albania  holds the 37th position in the ranking. Such positioning shows that the country has less open data compared to other European countries like: Norway, Netherlands, France Romania, Bulgaria, Denmark, Italy, Moldova, Poland, Germany, Switzerland and even Kosovo . Meanwhile Albania left behind Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia, Greece, Turkey, Macedonia Georgia. Taiwan  holds the first place in the Index. The European countries with the best performance are Britain, Denmark and Finland, while the United States maintain the 8th position.

The openness of official data for the main databases in Albania is at 42%. Satisfying indicators show the data on National Statistics and Public Budget. While the information over Public Procurement and Weather forecast it is low or there is lack of data. Global Open Data Index was conducted by the Open Knowledge Foundation Network and for Albania the assessment was organized by AIS staff and associates.

Transparent data about the assets of high officials in the Justice System

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The Spending Data Albania portal has published some data about the assets and economic interests of some high officials of the Justice System under its Money and Power section.

Thus, you may find the latest annual incomes of the three Presidents of the Republic, i.e. Mr. Rexhep MEIDANI, Mr. Alfred MOISIU, and Mr. Bamir TOPI, by using the search filter in the ‘President of the Republic’ category.

http://www.spending.data.al/sq/moneypower/list/pos_id/2

president-i-republikes

You may also find the Declaration of Assets of the two latest General Prosecutors, i.e. Ms. Ina RAMA and Mr. Thedhori SOLLAKU, by using the search filter for ‘General Prosecutor’

http://www.spending.data.al/sq/moneypower/list/pos_id/3

prokuror-i-pergjithshem

In the same section, you may also find the official declarations of assets of some judges of the high level and judges of the Court for Serious Crimes. This data section is enriched as part of the activities organized by the Albanian Institute of Science (AIS) for the implementation of Money Government &Politics Program (MG&P).

Local Government Law. The Election Situation Room against three mandates for locally elected officials

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Tirana, 15 December 2015

The Election Situation Room has asked the Assembly of Albania not to change the original draft law on local government, which restricted the time in office of locally elected officials to 2 mandates.

The latest decision to increase the number of mandates to 3 is considered a regress by the Election Room. According to the representatives of this Room, this decision is a move backward, because all the mayors, who had won a third mandate, were actually criminally prosecuted for abusing their power.

Gerti Shella (INFOCIP): The Albanian experience with the local government dictates today more than ever the need to restrict the mandates of locally elected officials to two. At the beginning of this year only, the mayors of the most important cities, who had already two mandates each, and ran for a third one, were criminally prosecuted for misuse of duty and corruption. Those prosecuted included also tens of commune mayors.

Aranita Brahaj (AIS and Za’Lart Albania 2015): The observation of election situations in the 2015 local government elections showed that where the existing mayors reran in these elections, there were higher expenses and more cases of misused of the public administration for purposes of electoral campaign. The Za’Lart platform received reports from citizens about problems with the transfer of voters’ names on the civil register. In municipalities, where existing mayors reran, there were also cases of pressure being exercised to intimidate voters through public services, violating thus the principles of fair competition among the candidates. Therefore, the law should not tolerate the use of power for such a long time.

Kristaq Kume: We are going to use such restrictive mechanisms such as the restriction of the right to be elected to no more than two mandates”

The changing of the original local government draft law is, according to the Election situation Room, against the recommendations made by the international bodies, as well as against the consultation process with the interest groups.

 

  • Title: Election Room against the draft law: Such draft law produced corruption – Top Channel Albania – News – Lajme

Shekulli Newspaper: Election Room – Mayors should be elected for two mandates only

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Ballkanweb: Election Room – Mayors should be elected for two mandates only

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MAPO Newspaper: Declaration of the Civil Society – Draft Law on Local Government makes negative deviation

mapo-dhoma-zgjedhore-projekt-ligji-per-qeverisjen-vendore-devijim-negativ

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Phases of the Court process of AIS vs Political Parties for transparency on electoral financies

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In the framework of its efforts to promote electoral transparency, AIS has appealed at the Administrative Court of Appeal against the decision of the Court of Tirana to dismiss the organization’s request towards the main political parties PD, PS and LSI (two of them in power) to make available their information on campaign spending and donations. Considering this issue the first court case where an entity / organization submitted a claim against the three main political parties

The Constitution of Albania, which brings one of the best models of access to information on election finances with no restriction, discrimination, bureaucratic procedures and institutional intermediaries.

AIS will continue to advocate the judicial position that political parties are subjects to the Public Law, and obliged, based on the Constitution to provide information to the citizens, media and other civil actors. Also, transparency over campaign spending and donations is an essential aspect of free and fair election.

Chronological steps of the process

  1. Official request sent to the three main parties on 09.06.2015
  2. Request based on the Law on right of information and the Constitution
  3. The three parties didn’t replied to the official request of AIS
  4. AIS addressed the issue to the Commissioner for the Right of Information (Mr. Besnik Dervishi), but the claim was dismissed
  5. AIS sued the three political parties in the Administrative Court
  6. The court held three sessions, in which were present only the representatives of the Socialist Party and the Commissioner for the right of Information
  7. The last session held on November 10th the court decided to dismiss the AIS claim
  8. AIS appealed the decision in the Administrative Court of Appeal,
  9. In this process AIS is represented by the Law firm Gumi & Associates
  10. Appeal to the Administrative Court of Appeal
  11. Request for acceleration of adjudication
  12. AIS addresses the Strasbourg Court. Albania does not guarantee trial within a reasonable time (Article 6 of the ECHR)
  13. Administrative Court of Appeal Decision dated 22.11. 2017 with no. 4916 (5236)
  14. AIS addresses the Court of Strasbourg in the absence of both a High Court and a Constitutional Court in the country, asking this court to review the merits of a case, which is now in a process of recourse.

Important Documents of the Court Process:

Request for Information PS                  

Request for Information PD

Request for Information LSI

Complaint for the Commissioner of the right to information

Law suit act                       

Court Call document

Decision of the Administrative Court

Appeal to the Administrative Court of Appeal

Request for acceleration of adjudication

AIS Request to Strasbourg Court (PDF)

Decision Administrative Court of Appeal

Request: AIS addresses the Court of Strasbourg in the absence of both a High Court and a Constitutional Court in the country, asking this court to review the merits of a case, which is now in a process of recourse.

 

 

Invitation for participation: Hackathon Albania 2015 “Life in another city”

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Hackathon Albania is a yearly event organized to celebrate Open Data and promote their use, adoption, and development of new exciting apps. This year, the event takes place on December 19th 2015 with the topic “Life in another city”.

The event is open to individuals, analysts; engineers; (storytellers); scout programmers, designers or students able to develop an application based on Open Data.

How to prepare for the Hackathon (Hacker+Marathon) ?

Everyone can collect data about its city or town (not just digital) and create a map or an application. This edition triggers data analyses and applications of various themes affecting different aspects of life in Albanian cities regarding

  • Economy, employment, enterprises
  • Infrastructure including urban distances, buildings, forests ect.
  • Technological development and Internet access in various cities
  • Demography

All those who would like to participate in this event, may be registered for free in the following link : Hackathon Albania 2015  or join the event on the facebook page of the Albanian Institute of Science

Thank you in advance!