Share

Public Procurement Reform in the Slovak Republic

Developing agile practices for ICT procurement in the Slovak Republic

Procuring ICT services and goods is an increasingly complex endeavour for the public sector, given its fast-changing nature, growing expectations from a user- and technology point of view and emerging challenges related to data ownership and security among others.

The Government of the Slovak Republic and the European Commission have called upon the OECD to assist in reforming the current procurement and contracting practices in the field of ICT to enable the public sector to fully seize the opportunities provided by modern digital technologies to deliver public services in agile and innovative ways.

Funded by DG REFORM, the general objective of this Project is to develop agile strategies and practices for ICT procurement in the Slovak Republic. The key objective is to ensure strategic alignment with digitalisation initiatives led by the Slovak government, notably by:

  1. Assessing the current trends in ICT procurement in the Slovak Republic against good practices from EU and OECD countries.
  2. Setting up recommendations on how to implement agile procurement strategies and practices with the aim of supporting the implementation of the National Digital Agenda.
  3. Developing practical guidance and tools to support the implementation of agile strategies for the procurement of ICT solutions and their testing in a pilot project.

Fast Facts

©Marvdrock/Nounproject 

Country: Slovak Republic
©Adrien Coquet/The noun project Timeframe: September 2019 – August 2021 
©Shashank Singh/ The Noun project

Counterparts:

  • European Commission (DG REFORM)
  • Slovak institutions, such as Public Procurement Office (PPO), Deputy Prime Minter’s Office
©The Icon Hero/Noun Project

Areas of focus:

List of Deliverables

  • Stock-taking report on the current practices of ICT procurements
  • Practical tools and guidance to support the uptake of agile practices in ICT procurements in the Slovak Republic

Timeline

  • 30 September 2019: Kick off meeting in Bratislava, Slovak Republic
  • December 2019 and January 2020: Fact-finding missions
  • February 2020 – May 2020: Drafting and consulting the stocktaking report
  • Mid 2020: Presenting the finalised stocktaking report
  • June 2020 – October 2020: Developing theguidance and the tools
  • November 2020 – April 2021: Testing the draft guidance and tools in a pilot project
  • May 2021 – July 2021: Finalisation of the guidance and tools based on the lessons learned in the pilot phase
  • August 2021: Closing event to discuss the main findings and recommendations with a wide group of interested national stakeholders

Content of the project

Component I: Assessing the current practices on ICT procurements in the Slovak Republic against good practices from EU and OECD countries (covering the whole procurement cycle) and developing recommendations to implement agile strategies.

This component includes the following activities:

  1. Conducting spend analysis in order to identify the main features of historic spend in the purchasing category.
  2. Mapping stakeholders involved in ICT procurement and in the Slovak digital agenda to identify the typical stakeholders involved in this purchasing category, their roles and business processes in place.
  3. Benchmarking exercise with international good practice will identify good practices in the international context in terms of strategies, business processes and practices relating to ICT procurement that are relevant for the Slovak context and objectives.
  4. Drafting a stock-taking report including key findings and recommendations.

 Component II: Developing practical guidance and actionable tools to support the implementation of agile strategies for procuring ICT solutions and testing these tools in a pilot project

This component includes the following activities:

  1. Developing a set of practical guidance and tools (such as templates, checklists) supporting the implementation of agile strategies in ICT procurement.
  2. Testing the practical guidance and tools in a pilot project (in a real life tender procedure). 
  3. Integration of lessons learned to an updated version of the tools based on experience gained in the practical application of the guidance and tools.
  4. Dissemination of project results and tools in final workshop.

Outputs and resources

 Cover Recommendation Public Procurement‌

OECD Recommendation on Public Procurement