Procurements worth millions of euros may fall outside the transparency zone 0 11

During the discussions, an agreement was reached that the threshold for construction procurements may be raised to 1 million euros, rather than 5.5 million euros as proposed for the second reading of the amendments. Regarding concerns about potential reductions in transparency in most procurements, the necessity of publishing a notification shortly before the planned deal is being discussed.

Currently, the thresholds for public procurements are 10,000 euros for goods and services and 20,000 euros for construction works. In the amendments being prepared for the final reading in the Saeima, these thresholds are significantly increased - to 143,000 euros for goods and services and to 5.5 million euros for construction works. Below these thresholds, conducting procurements will be significantly easier.

As noted by Anita Betere, head of the strategy department of the Bureau for Prevention and Combating Corruption, the radical reform will provide clients with more flexibility, as in some cases they will be able to choose whether to conduct a procurement or directly select a contractor themselves. However, the changes carry the risk that neither procurement participants nor the media may have access to information about the decision-making process in more than 90% of procurements, which amounts to approximately one billion euros based on last year's data. This is opposed by both the anti-corruption bureau and non-governmental organizations, including business associations.