26th November 2015

Good Governance: Letter to parliamentarians on Registry of Contracts vote

 

Dear Ms./Mr. Member of Parliament,

We write to express our appreciation for your vote to establish a Registry of Contracts. If properly implemented, the Registry of Contracts will help increase the accountability of both public officials and companies, which should help improve the value of each crown spent in the procurement process.

The AmCham’s goal is to help the Czech Republic become a top ten EU economy. One of key factors in achieving that goal is effective public procurement. Procurement in the Czech Republic accounts for a higher percentage of GDP (14.4% (Eurostat, 2013)) than in most EU countries. That is not a good or bad thing; it just means that the country is more dependent on procurement generating a high return for every crown spent than other economies. Generating value in procurement requires good planning, competitive bidding, and accountability for decisions and management of the entire process until project completion. The Registry of Contracts will improve public access and trust of decision-making, and will influence the quality of planning and bidding indirectly. For the procurement process truly to be effective, the registry needs to be supplemented by improvements in other parts of the procurement process....Read full statement in Czech and English.

View also the attached statistics on public procurement in the Czech Republic.

Members of the American Chamber of Commerce in the Czech Republic