Open Contracting Albania Project – Impact on the Media

During the period of May to November 2023, data and products from the project titled ‘Instil a Watchdog Culture, Open Contracting Albania, and Red Flag Index Project’ have become part of the Information Sessions with Journalists and Media Representatives in the country. Using information and tender passports, journalists have prepared dozens of investigative articles shedding light on irregularities and issues within municipality tenders or Reconstruction…

Four years after the Earthquake. The government has no concrete results in mitigating its consequences. Problems with the Budget, corrupt tenders and serious cases of abuse

Four years after the Earthquake of November 26, 2019 and its severe Consequences in human life, housing and infrastructure, AIS finds that the State and the Albanian Government cannot make an inventory of where we are in dealing with its consequences and rehabilitation. November 2023 There is no Clear Report on: the number of families provided with housing through the Reconstruction Program Reconstructed public works,…

The Money and Power Database enables the public control-verification of the phenomenon of nepotism.

Media reports that such phenomenon affects 70% of Senior Officials Brahaj: The appointment of family members risks escalating into Structured Corruption The Inside Story Program by journalist Luljeta PROGNI brought an Investigation Report during the month of November, with evidence on concrete cases of employment of politicians’ family members in State Institutions. The report entitled “Political offsprings, coveted institutions transformed into nurseries of nepotism” provided…

CEPI project with Transparency International, Workshop with journalists and activists, Monitoring of public sector databases and use of evidence based practices to accountability

The organization AIS, otherwise known as Open Data Albania, organized a workshop with journalists and activists on the topic of Monitoring Public Sectors, Databases and guaranteeing Accountability through Evidence based practices. This event was held as part of the EU 4 Rule of Law Project: Civic Engagement for Public Integrity in the Western Balkans and Turkey, a project led by Transparency International, in collaboration with…

Activism and Civil Society for Drafting, Consultation and Implementation of the State Budget in Parliament

The organization AIS/Open Data Albania organized, on October 23rd, in the city of Lezhe, a training with activists, journalists and representatives of non-governmental organizations. The subject of the training “Activism and Civil Society for Drafting, Consultation and Implementation of the State Budget in Parliament”. The event was held within the framework of the Project “Increasing the Parliament’s Responsiveness to Citizens’ Concerns”, supported by the British…

Public Procurement in Albania – Matters of Practice and Legislation

Presentation by: Aranita BRAHAJ, Executive Project Coordinator Viktor GUMI, AIS’s Legal Expert October 19th, 2023, h.13.00. AIS’s commitment towards Transparency, as well as Improving Accountability and Dialogue within the Cluster 1 negotiation framework. AIS is a local organization founded in 2011, best known as the promoter of Open Data Albania, working on Transparency, Accountability and Good Governance. SIDA Support and Partnership. For the March 2021…

The Need to improve the Public Procurement

As part of CI-EU-NPA “Improving the Debate on Policies and Accountability to fulfill basic rights through the creation of the Platform for Negotiations of Cluster I Albania”, AIS held a roundtable on the Needs for Change in Public Procurement Legislation. Member s of the Parliament, Mrs. Jorida Tabaku and Mr. Eduard Shalsi and representatives from the Public Procurement Agency, Mrs. Xhoana Ristani was part of…

Council of Ministers Unlawful Decisions: Recent Decision Violates the Law on Public Procurement

Dear friends, The Council of Ministers has approved Decision No. 531 / 2023 with the purpose of “Creating the State Joint Stock Company “Centered Purchases Operator JSC”, in order to perform Special Public Procurement Procedures”. According to this decision, the Centered Purchases Operator is a joint-stock company, with State Capital, that operates on the basis of the Law on Merchant and Commercial Companies. This decision…

Master Class on Electoral Integrity and Improvement through Data and Evidence-based Processes – Open Data Youth Fellowship

On July 3rd, an event titled “Master Class: Electoral Integrity and Improvement through Data and Evidence-based Processes” was held. This event served as a platform for data analysts participating in the Open Data Fellowship Network’s Youth Capacity Building Program to present to their younger colleagues and those interested in issues related to electoral integrity. The presentations encompassed reports and analyses on this subject. The participants…

Comments and Recommendations on Public Consultation – Amendment to the Law on Public Procurement AIS Open Data Albania

The Albanian Institute of Science, widely recognized as the driving force behind Open Data Albania (AIS/Open Data), has undertaken a thorough review of the Draft Law proposing amendments to the existing Law on Public Procurement. Specifically, we have closely examined the Notice for Public Consultation regarding this draft law, which addresses various additions and changes to Law No. 162, dated December 23, 2020, concerning Public Procurement. The Albanian Government introduced these Draft Amendments on June 20th, and they are currently available on its website for Public Consultation, welcoming input…

Treasury Payments, June 2023

During the last month, from June 1 to June 30, the Treasury has allocated several payments, which total an amount of ALL 41.64 billion distributed. Link Thesari 2019 – Open Spending Albania (data.al) During the same period of the previous year, the Treasury allocated ALL 44.54 billion Thesari 2019 – Open Spending Albania (data.al) From January 1st to June 30rd, 2023, the treasury system has…

Save the date: Open Data Youth Fellowship Master Class on Enhancing Electoral Integrity through Data and Evidence-Based Approaches

Dear friends, We would like to share with you an invitation to participate in a Master Class Event where Data Analysts and activists who have completed the first cycle of training as part of the Open Data Youth Fellowship and Network will share with new members of the Network evidence, analysis and activities on Electoral Integrity, improvement through data and evidence-based processes. Who can participate:…

The need for Electoral Reform. A Projection on the Distribution of 2025 MP Mandates based on the May 2023 votes shows defects in representation

Dear Ladies, Dear Gentlemen, AIS, the organization promoting Open Data Albania, has just published a Projection of how mandates for MPs would be distributed in the 2025 parliamentary elections, if the electoral subjects would run with the Current Electoral Code applied, and secure as many votes as in the May 14 Elections (votes for the representation of the Subjects in the Municipal Councils). This projection…

Tenders in the healthcare sector, 40% of procedures carry risk of clientelism, marked with a red flag

The apprehension, on corruption charges, of a senior official from the Ministry of Health coincides with grim developments in this sector’s public contracting AIS, through its Open Procurement Albania database – the Health category, has been monitoring all relevant procurement procedures for years, assessing and marking with a Red Flag (risk of irregularities and clientelism) several of them, which exhibited clear markers of abuse. Link…

51 Parties have benefited ALL 2.17 billion from Taxpayers in 10 years 2011-2022

AIS has just published an article on the Open Data Albania page showing the Public Money Value that Political Parties have received in 10 years. 2011 – 2022. The data provided in the article disclose public funding from taxpayers’ money distributed to (51) Beneficiary Parties1), by Year abd by type of funding, i.e. annual or electoral funding, etc. The reference used for each data is…