On 20 June 2025, a workshop entitled “Public Procurement and Citizen Monitoring” was held in Budapest, Hungary, serving as the kick-off meeting of the “iMonitor 2.0” project, co-funded by the European Union.

The event brought together members and associate members of the consortium implementing the project, including representatives of public institutions such as Italy’s National Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC) and Romania’s National Agency for Public Procurement (ANAP), as well as civil society organizations focused on promoting transparency and accountability in public procurement. The ALSAI participated in the workshop as an invited institution, in its capacity as a public body committed to ensuring transparency and accountability through the audit of public procurement procedures carried out by public institutions and state-owned enterprises in the Republic of Albania.

The discussions highlighted the importance of cooperation between public institutions and civil society, with particular emphasis on: (i) the importance of collecting and analyzing public procurement data by civil society organizations; and (ii) strengthening communication channels with public institutions responsible for overseeing the use of public funds in their respective countries, through the submission of periodic reports based on analyzed data, with the aim of identifying and assessing risks in the field of public procurement.

Participants from civil society organizations shared good practices, presenting the navigation features of the Open Tender portal, a database that collects and analyses data on public procurement across the European Union.

The Open Procurement portal, managed by the Albanian Institute of Science (AIS), was also highlighted as a good practice.
A key aspect in the analysis of the collected data was the methodology for identifying “red flags” as risk indicators in public procurement procedures. These included, among others, factors such as lack of competition, failure to publish procurement notices, the use of closed or restricted procurement procedures, and the registration of economic operators in jurisdictions considered to be tax havens.

This workshop marked another important step in ALSAI’s commitment to cooperation with national and international stakeholders, public institutions, and civil society organizations, with the aim of enhancing transparency and combating corruption in public procurement. It also contributed to strengthening the role of public external audit in ensuring that public funds are used with due regard to economy, efficiency, and effectiveness. ALSAI was represented at the workshop by auditor Delor Prosi.