The final conference of the TSI project, organized by the OECD and the European Commission, was held in Paris today. The project, aimed at fighting bid rigging in public procurement, involved Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, and Romania.

Running from September 2024 to September 2026, the project was funded by the European Union through the Technical Support Instrument. It focused on enhancing the capacities of participating countries to prevent, detect, and sanction bid rigging in public procurement.

Throughout the project, 21 events were held across the six participating countries, engaging over 856 representatives from both public and private sectors, including procurement officials, judges, and regulatory bodies. The activities aimed to strengthen knowledge and cooperation among competition authorities and public procurement bodies.

Based on the OECD Recommendation on Fighting Bid Rigging in Public Procurement, the project included workshops, capacity-building activities, and the development of educational materials to ensure compliance with competition rules in public contracts.

The conference gathered representatives from competition authorities, policymakers, and international stakeholders, showcasing the project's achievements and discussing future collaboration opportunities. Special attention was given to linking experiences from this project with another TSI project in Czech Republic, France, Ireland, Latvia, Poland, and Portugal.

Sandi Valentinc, head of the International Cooperation Department at the Croatian competition authority, presented the activities and results achieved in Croatia during the project's duration, along with future steps in combating bid rigging.

OECD also presented the final report of the project, which includes best practices, lessons learned, and recommendations for enhancing cooperation and advocacy for competition in public procurement.