With a view to improving the efficiency of principles, functions and processes related to the organisation and implementation of public procurement at the Ministry of Education and Science (hereinafter – MoESC), in May 2014 DyU was entrusted with a task to develop the technical specifications for the procurement of the development of a procurement and contract information system for the MoESC (hereinafter – ILIS) that would be used for launching public procurement and for subsequent development and implementation of an adequate ILIS, thereby ensuring an easy and modern procurement management process and improving the efficiency of the functions and processes relating to the procurement process.

PROJECT SOLUTION AND RESULT:

As the main objective for the ILIS development is to optimise and streamline all the processes relating to the public procurement of the MoESC with the help of a custom-made IT system, easing the burden on the MoESC personnel and increasing the efficiency of the procurement management processes both in the terms of time and costs, at the same time improving the accessibility and transparency for the stakeholders involved in public procurement organised by the MoESC, the technical specification of the ILIS included the following:

• an analysis of the current business process for organising public procurement in the MoESC;
• definition of the basic modules for the proposed ILIS, their contents, functionality as well as the planned interfaces with the existing systems;
• identification of the ILIS users, user groups, the objectives for their involvement and their needs;
• the general functional requirements for the ILIS development, non-functional and other requirements.

In addition to that, on the basis of the modules characterising the proposed ILIS, a provisional timetable for the ILIS development and an estimate of development costs were prepared, prioritising all of the planned module components and thereby outlining the most advisable and efficient sequence for the development and implementation of the ILIS.

The development and implementation of the ILIS is expected to result in the following main benefits:

• improved management, better quality of services and transparency of processes, improving the credibility of public spending;
• effective public procurement organisation and implementation practices that would be well-understood by the stakeholders and would be democratic, at the same time reducing the likelihood that the process and the results of the procurement process would be contested;
• opportunities to run an in-depth analysis of the organised and implemented public procurement, ensuring the opportunities for further improvement of the procurement planning practices, more accurate planning of the required resources and better decision-making processes;
• as safe a procurement process as can be ensured by the technological potential;
• standardisation of the public procurement processes and documentation within the MoESC, ensuring faster and more convenient preparation and processing of the procurement documentation at the MoESC as well as the preparation of bids and submission to the suppliers;
• more convenient and flexible working time and convenient online services to the stakeholders;
• more cost-efficient management and reduced administrative burden through optimised work organisation, reduced and optimised costs;
• possibility to introduce the ILIS system in institutions supervised by the MoESC, i.e. agencies;
• increased involvement of the stakeholders in public administration processes, thereby improving the credibility and transparency.