Slovenian Competition Protection Agency (SCPA) is participating in the 54th Public Procurement Days, which are being held yesterday and today in the Portus Congress Center in the Hotel Slovenija in Portorož, organized by the Management Agency and the Public Procurement Association. At the popular Thursday round table entitled With the Advocate of the Public Interest to a Successful Audit, Andrej Matvoz, Director of SCPA, presented his position, presenting future trends in the field of public procurement, as well as the role of advocates of the public interest in this area. He looked at the effectiveness of the system in practice and the necessity of changes that would contribute to strengthening the institute in practice. The round table was attended by, among others, Jana Ahčin, President of the Court of Audit of the Republic of Slovenia, Samo Červek, President of the State Audit Commission, and Tina Divjak, Deputy President of the Commission for the Prevention of Corruption.
Eva Murovec, an employee of SCPA, presented the Role of SCPA as the Guardian of the Public Interest in Public Procurement, just before the round table. In her speech, Murovec underlined the key points or positions that the State Audit Commission has developed in deciding on audit requests filed by SCPA in the last 10 years and that affect the position of public interest advocates. She also presented the key problems that not only SCPA, but all public interest advocates face, since filing audit requests is not one of their core competencies.
Since 1998, when traditional consultations or conferences on the topic of public procurement have been held, more than 11 thousand participants have attended such events, listening to over 700 lecturers, experts in the field of public procurement. This year's professional meeting was held under the title "Innovations in Public Procurement: Professional Guidelines and Practical Solutions". Novelties of the European and Slovenian public procurement systems were presented, concrete examples of good criteria, as well as the findings of the Court of Audit in auditing public procurement, and decisions of the State Audit Commission that shape practice. Those present were also informed about the new features of the Regulation on Green Public Procurement, and as stated, the role of SCPA as the guardian of the public interest in public procurement.