Public Procurement System to the Attention of the Minister of Defense

CHISINAU, August 8, 2019 — Minister of Defense Pavel Voicu attended today a meeting with the representatives of the Agency for Ensuring Resources and Administration of Patrimony (AERAP) in order to familiarize himself with its activity, missions, role, and the main problems faced by the department’s staff while managing the public procurement system.

In this way, Minister Voicu was informed about the functioning mechanism of the process of planning and ensuring resources in the defense institution and its implementation stages, the types of procurement procedures including the goods purchased for the National Army, reparation and renovation of infrastructure in military units, the current stage of reconstruction of military facilities and training centers, services’ contracting and cadastral registration of real estate, relevant financial aspects, and the activity of the working groups responsible for the system’s management.

During the meeting, Pavel Voicu mentioned that the activity of the Ministry of Defense must be transparent so the society would know firsthand how the budgetary resources are being spent. “The public procurement system is one of the main elements of a public institution’s good functioning and it must be free from any form of corruption or vagueness. This is why we must be open and transparent with the citizens and with the economic agents we cooperate with for the organization of procurement, construction and renovation works in the National Army,” said Minister Voicu.

The members of the working groups of AERAP highlighted the main problems they are facing while trying to reach the established objectives, among which the lack of financial resources necessary for certain types of goods or works, the shortage of qualified workers in the construction field, and the delays of cadastral processes.

In this regard, the Minister of Defense asked the specialists to identify solutions and proposals for solving these problems. “I am glad to observe that the public procurement and patrimony department is quite well-organized and this is due, in great part, to the service members who know their field of activity excellently. However, there are some shortcomings of exogenous nature that are observed in other institution’s departments as well. This is why I will order that all the necessary measures are undertaken in order to solve these issues, so the system will function efficiently and without irregularities,” mentioned Pavel Voicu.

Minister Voicu added that he will also inspect other important departments of the Ministry of Defense in order to observe their activity and to identify the main problems and risks. “Once we will identify the existent deficiencies, together with the institution’s specialists, we will start a complex process for their elimination, in order to achieve our established objectives,” said Pavel Voicu.