Public Procurement in Lithuania - OECD Public Governance Reviews
- Erzsébet Csóka
- Aug 20, 2024
- 4 min read
Increasing Efficiency through Centralisation and Professionalisation. This report describes the ongoing reforms related to the centralisation and professionalisation of the public procurement function in Lithuania. It provides the government of Lithuania with recommendations through an action plan for improving efficiency in Lithuania's public procurement system.
In Lithuania, public procurement has a significant economic size and impact. For this reason, Lithuania recognises public procurement as a strategic tool to support broader policies and contribute to the country’s economic growth and recovery. Used strategically, public procurement can contribute significantly to addressing EU priorities (green transition and innovation), achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDGs), and “building back better” after the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and recent geopolitical shocks. Promoting the use of public procurement to address global challenges such as climate change and support innovation is a top priority in Lithuania. In the National Progress Plan (2021-2030) adopted in 2020, the government of Lithuania set an ambitious 20% target for innovation procurement by 2030, with the interim goal of 5% by 2025.
Starting in 2023, the government of Lithuania also set up a 100% target for green public procurement. A sound and well-functioning public procurement system is essential to further promote its strategic use. To this end, Lithuania has been working with the European Commission and the OECD since 2017 to increase the efficiency and efficacy of its public procurement system in line with the 2015 OECD Recommendation on Public Procurement and international good practices. Building on this successful partnership, Lithuania enhanced further the centralisation and professionalisation of its public procurement system through reforms, including laws and regulations based on recommendations from the EU-funded public procurement reform project “Improvement of the Lithuanian public procurement system through professionalization of the national workforce and streamlining of R&D tendering” (2018-2019). Indeed, Building on these successes, Lithuania has ambitions to implement further reforms to move to the frontline of public procurement practices in Europe and the OECD.
This report provides Lithuania with recommendations and suggested actions to improve its public procurement system and promote the uptake of strategic procurement through centralisation and professionalisation. It is part of the project “Increasing efficiency in public procurement system of Lithuania through the implementation of centralisation and professionalisation reforms,” which was funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument and implemented by the OECD from September 2021 to September 2023, in co-operation with the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support of the European Commission. The report was approved for publication by the OECD Working Party of the Leading Practitioners on Public Procurement (LPP) on 12 March 2024 and prepared for publication by the Secretariat. The action was funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument, and implemented by the OECD, in co-operation with the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support of the European Commission.
Under the direction and oversight of Elsa Pilichowski, OECD Director for Public Governance; Janos Bertók, OECD Deputy Director for Public Governance; and Edwin Lau, Head of the Infrastructure and Public Procurement Division of the Directorate for Public Governance, this review was co-ordinated by Paulo Magina, Deputy Head of the Infrastructure and Public Procurement Division. The main author of this report is Masayuki Omote, Policy Analyst from the Infrastructure and Public Procurement Division.
Laura Kuoraitė, seconded to the OECD from the Public Procurement Office of Lithuania, contributed inputs at the initial drafting stage. Justine Deziel provided editorial assistance. The action was funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument, and implemented by the OECD, in cooperation, with the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support (DG Reform) of the European Commission.
The OECD expresses its gratitude to the European Commission for their support to this project, particularly Mr. Daniele Dotto, Deputy Director of DG Reform and Head of Unit, Governance and Public Administration, Mr. Thomas Giacoletto and Ms. Alessandra Budello, policy officers at the same unit and coordinators of the project in DG Reform. The OECD is particularly thankful to the Government of Lithuania for their commitment to this work and wishes to express its gratitude to all those who made this collaboration possible. In particular, the OECD expresses its gratitude to Ms. Erika Kurockina, Vice-Minister, Ministry of Economy and Innovation (MoEI), Lithuania, Ms. Aurelija Ylė, Head of the Public Procurement Policy Division, MoEI, Ms. Rima Ambrazevičienė, Advisor of the Public Procurement Policy Division, MoEI, Mr. Darius Vedrickas, Director, Public Procurement Office (PPO), Mr. Gediminas Golcevas, former Head of Methodical Assistance Division, PPO, Ms. Laura Kuoraitė, former Senior Advisor at Methodical Assistance Division, PPO and Živilė Cibutavičienė, former Senior Adviser, Methodical Assistance Division PPO, Ms. Neringa Andrijauskienė, Director, CPO LT, Ms. Vaida Vaitkevičiūtė-Daugvilė, Deputy Director, CPO LT, and Ms. Agnė Kaminskienė, Head of Law and Human Resources Division, CPO LT. The engagement and consultation with key stakeholders of the public procurement system in Lithuania were critical for the successful completion of this review.
The OECD would like to thank 99 public procurement officials in Lithuania that participated in the ProcurCompEU self-assessment survey from 6 CPBs: CPO LT, Asset Management and Economy Department under the Ministry of Interior, Prison Department under the Ministry of Justice, Kaunas City municipality administration, Vilnius City municipality administration and the Defence Resources Agency under the Ministry of National Defence.
The OECD would like also to express its gratitude to the three contracting authorities that participated in the pilot projects of strategic procurement: Defence Resources Agency under the Ministry of National Defence, CPO LT, and Republican Vilnius University Hospital (RVUL). Finally, the OECD would like to thank Ms. Neringa Virbickaitė, Mr. Andrius Malvicas, and Mr. Virginijus Virbickas, the OECD local experts and coordinator, who supported the implementation of the project and the pilots.
