TRANSPARENCY, ACCOUNTABILITY AND CIVIC ENGAGEMENT
AIS Newsletter September 2016Transparency over procurement in the health sector. The value of contracts signed for 9 months amounts to USD 53 million
24% of the value of the contracts signed through public procurement procedures in the public health sector are done through direct negotiations , and without any competition. In total, 1768 contracts out of 4732 signed during the first nine months of this year were reached through negotiations. These are some of the findings of AIS Project on Public Health Sector Procurement. The Open Procurement Albania portal introduced a data catalogue on public procurement and contracts in the health sector covered by the state budget and the mandatory social insurance fund. The data are published in an open data format and enable the monitoring and listing of tenders by institutions , type of procedure, value of contract, and winning company. A passport , containing information on the procedure followed and announced winner is published for each tender. The project aims at ensuring transparency for the citizens and watchdog monitoring of how the state budget and the mandatory social insurance funds are spent.
Asset declaration for 2015. MPs declare income that are four times bigger than their salaries
In 2015, the Albanian MPs have declared an average of 8.38 million Albanian lek as family incomes, which is several times higher than their salaries. Their annual declarations are published on the Open Data Albania portal as part of an analysis containing the incomes for 2015 for MPs and their families according to their respective sources. MPs are required to make annual declarations of their incomes, assets, and economic interests.The declarations of each MP are published on the Spending Data Albania portal, under the Money and Power section.
AIS addresses the Strasbourg Court. Albania does not guarantee trial within a reasonable time (Article 6 of the ECHR)
On 25th of November 2015, AIS made an appeal to the Administrative Court of Appeal concerning its court case “AIS vs. Socialist Party, Democratic Party, and the Socialist Movement for Integration". The case is about public information on electoral funds. On 10th of February and 31st of March 2016, the Court was asked by a written request to accelerate its judicial process. A delay of such case for years makes its adjudication irrelevant. AIS, however, has not received any information regarding its request or any potential date of adjudication. Albania does not have a law on the delay/dragging on of court cases, nor effective remedies are provided for in its domestic legislation. Under such circumstances, AIS addressed the Strasbourg Court by requestin it to express its views on the adjudication process of the abovementioned case and whether there are any violations of Articles 6 and 13 of the European Convention of Human Rights.