A Country Wide Training Strategy in Public Procurement is being designed to enhance professionalism in all fields of public procurement in BiH.

Aimed at government officials, procuring entities and suppliers, a training programme will address transparency issues and the practical application of EU procedures to the tendering process. Above all, it will attempt to address the importance of responsibility and accountability for the way in which public funds are handled.

The specific objectives of the training programme are to:

• Support the implementation of the legislative reform
• Develop knowledge, skills and mastery in applying the public procurement procedures
• Conduct formal staff workshops
• Develop personal skills and knowledge transfer amongst public procurement staff and officials
• Delivery of training to the private sector
• Benchmark the activities with EU member states, through study tours
• Assist in the development of a certification scheme for procurement expertise
• Report on two proposals to establish a National Training Strategy in Public Procurement in BiH

The starting point will be to identify the required performance criteria, so that the competences required for effective, efficient and value-added public procurement can be determined. In tandem with this, existing competencies will be assessed. A Training Needs Analysis has therefore been conducted to establish:

• current levels of skills competence within the public procurement function
• knowledge amongst staff of the public procurement process as a whole
• the extent to which staff understand responsibilities associated with the use and management of public funds

Immediate training needs can therefore be determined and these and future needs will ultimately be reflected in the proposals for a Country Wide Training Strategy.