Expedient financing of civil protection at the local level was the topic of a discussion held on Friday, September 30, in Majdanpek, which was organized by the Belgrade Center for Security Policy (BCSP) with the support of the Resource Centre, a partner of the PRO-CURE Group. A case study "Extorted procurement-how local authorities unlawfully procure equipment for firefighters" by Dejan Skoric was also presented during the discussion. ’Even though ...

Applying the "PRO-CURE" methodology, Dejan Skoric from the Association Resource Centre Majdanpek, conducted an analysis of the expediency of the spending of public funds from the budgets of local governments for the purchase of fire-fighting vehicles and equipment.

Applying the "PRO-CURE" methodology for assessing the procurement expediency, Miroslav Mijatovic of Podrinjski Anti-Corruption Tim Loznica, conducted a study on the procurement of anti-hail rockets in Loznica in 2014 and 2015. In this study the author has also provided an overview of the overall state of hail protection in Serbia, as well as recommendations for improvement of this system.

The biggest corruption risks in defence sector stem from weak internal control of budget spending and revenue that defense system achieves, like armament export, confidential procurement, human resource management, control of the manufacturer’s choice and whistleblower protection in prosecution of corruption - these were conclusions of the conference BCSP organised.

Transparency International published the results for Serbia in the framework of the second round of the Government Defence Anti-Corruption Index survey encompassing more than 100 countries. This index measures risks of corruption in national defence and security establishments. The risk assessment for Serbia was carried out in cooperation with Belgrade Centre for Security Policy.

After conducting a public competition, Belgrade Centre for Security Policy and Society Against Corruption have elected the members of the Group for strengthening civil oversight of public procurement in Serbian security sector (PRO-CURE).

Strengthening the integrity in the security sector was the subject of expert consultations which gathered 28 representatives of the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Interior, Security-Information Agency, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, the Ombudsman, the Commissioner for Information of Public importance and Personal Data Protection, Agency for fighting against corruption, the Public Procurement Office and the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, from 9 to 11 July at Fruska Gora.

Definition of terms relevant to performance audit of public procurement and process of planning of procurement were some of the topics on which the BCSP team discussed with the Deputy Director of the Public Procurement Office Danijela Bokan.

Specific cases of irregularities in the process of public procurements, new legislation in this area, as well as new responsibilities of specialized bodies in the procurement process, were the topics of advanced training for researchers organized in the BCSP library.