The Cost of Security: Procurement Performance in the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia

With austerity measures in force and a period of increasing social instability in the Republic of Serbia, the police sustain significant financial and morale damage due to the mismanagement of public funds through inexpedient and corrupt procurement practices.

Improving the police procurement performance guarantees more available funds for much needed equipment, uniforms and technology. This would in turn significantly improve the effectiveness of the police force, make it more resilient to corruption and more ready for public security challenges in the future. The body responsible for police and public safety, the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia (MoI), has adopted and implemented all legally binding procurement legislation, but is yet to assess whether the procurement performance has really improved.

Real state of the MoI procurement practice is assessed through publically available data on a number of performance indicators grouped in four dimensions: transparency, procurement planning, procurement implementation and competition.

The assessment uses performance indicators developed by the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, published in the Toolkit for Civil Assessment of Public Expenditure Performance in the Security Sector, and the POINTPULSE Network Methodology for Assessing Police Integrity concerning finance and procurement. Statistical data of the MoI procurement practice is used, as well as the data from the national public procurement reports issued by the Public Procurement Office.

The publication is the result of work on the project “PRO-CURE Strengthening Civil Scrutiny of Public Procurement in the Security Sector“, funded by the European Union through the project Support to Civil Society in 2013 and the Office for Cooperation with Civil Society of the Republic of Serbia.