Purchases for Covid-19 Situation, the Albanian Government applies Secrete Contracts, bypassing Participation and Transparency

AIS, an organization promoting Open Data Albania, observes with concern that the Albanian Government has decided, in an anti-constitutional manner, illegally, and without any legitimate need, to consider Secret Contracting and Procedures for purchasing during the emergency created by Covid-19. Through two Decisions of Council of Ministers (DCM), namely: DCM No. 203, dated 26.02.2020 “On procedures to be used for signing Contracts dictated by the…

Purchases for Covid-19 situation, Albanian Government applies Secret Contracts without Participation and Transparency

AIS notes with concern that the Albanian Government has decided in an unconstitutional, illegal, an unnecessary manner to classify purchasing contracts and procedures used during the state of emergency caused by Covid-10 as secret. A list of the tiles of such secret contracts is published by Open Procurement Albania database for the health institutions. Through two decisions of the Council of Ministers, i.e. Decision no.…

Parliament approves Concessions – Political decision-making violates PPP legislation

MPs voted during the state of emergency of natural disaster caused by Covid-19, at the parliamentary session of April 30th, a law on adopting change, concessionary addition to the Port Romano Durres. This political decision of the Council of Ministers and Parliament is in our opinion in contradiction with the Law on Concessions and Public-Private Public Partnerships, i.e. Law No. 125/2013, namely Article 33 on…

Open Data Albania platform for Covid-19, Albania without random sampling tests

Open Data Albania has established a real-time data database for the spread of Covid-19 in Albania. The database contains official data and charts for the number of those affected, suspects, tests and other statistics. So far, the serological tests for verifying immunity to Covid-19 infection were made only by the staff of the Mother Teresa Hospital Centre. These tests give a 9% positivity result. The…

The public monitors the integrity of the Justice System. Most viewed individuals in the Register of Magistrates, December 2020

The web-based Akses Info Drejtësi Database is created by AIS organization as a mine of data and documents for the newly established justice institutions and their members. The database contains a Register of Magistrates, which includes information and a passport for each judge http://aksesdrejtesi.al/persons/1 , prosecutor http://aksesdrejtesi.al/persons/2 , and each member of the justice institutions http://aksesdrejtesi.al/persons/3, as well as for suspended judges and prosecutors http://aksesdrejtesi.al/persons/4…

Ranking 10 Most Paid Businesses from the State Treasury in 2020, Treasury Transactions from Open Data Albania

Open Data Albania is publishing data on the Most Paid Clients through the State Budget Treasury Transactions during the year 2020. The records are summarized in this article on the ranking, based on data from the Treasury Transactions Database, which is administered by the organization called AIS  and which consist of information on every disbursement allotted from 2012 onwards. Trans Adriatic Pipeline AG Albania is…

November – December and Covid-19 situation, Albania enters a critical phase, death toll increases

Albania has marked an increasing number of deaths due to Covid–19 in the recent weeks. The data processed through Open Data Albania charts shows an exponential increase of deaths compared to March-October. In November, Albania recorded 301 deaths of patients in hospitals diagnosed with Covid-19. In December, there is an average of 15 deaths per day. By 31 December 2020, only 8.89% of the total population have…

Anti-Corruption Day, Open Data Albania is awarded the Civil Society Action Prize

The Integrity Week and the World Anti-Corruption Day were finalised by several prizes awarded to important and active stakeholders in the country. Our organization, known as the promoter of Open Data Albania was given the Civil Society Action Award. The award was given with the motivation “For its contribution to strengthening accountability and improving policymaking. Also, for its contribution in promoting transparency, accountability, and civic participation through…

AIS proposes to the Government the establishment of an Electronic Register for the Magistrates, AKSHI sets up working group for its implementation

A Register of the Magistrates, with data, documents and information for Albanian judges and prosecutors is required by the law since 2016, the year when the legal package for the justice reform was adopted. This register enables the careful archiving of the documents and information related to the integrity, performance and image of judges and prosecutors. AIS has found that none of the institutions, the High Prosecutorial…

Investigative Media on Waste Processing Business; data on Monopolies and High Costs for Taxpayers

Exit.al and the TV programme “In a few words” ( Me Pak Fjalë) has published facts, data, documents and analysis of the waste processing business through three companies contracted for Private Public Partnerships (PPP) Incinerator. The analysis is also based on the Treasury payments or data for the PPP businesses, which AIS makes transparent to the Albanian public in a user-friendly format on a daily basis. The…

The first year of municipalities after the 2019 elections; the number of tenders exposed to risk of corruption and clientelism doubles

Since 2015, Open Procurement Albania has monitored all the tenders of the 61 municipalities in the country. Monitoring is done through well-structuring data and documents, as well as by applying an algorithm for risk assessment and RedFlag marking of the problematic tenders. Lack of competition, lack of competitiveness, disqualification of bidders with more economically valid offers, unjustified negotiations and cancellations of procedures due to the system and public officials are the…

AIS part of the Enhancing Policies and Strengthening the Capacities of the Public Procurement System in Albania Project

AIS is the local partner in a Project of the OSCE Presence for “Enhancing Policies and Strengthening Capacities, Transparency and Accountability of the Public Procurement System in Albania”. The project aims at identifying risks of corruption and irregularities in the public procurement system in Albania. Its final goal is to provide recommendations for improvement and capacity building policies. The project will support transparency and data monitoring through…

Who does business in Albania, OpenCorporates Albania

Who’s doing business in Albania??? OpenCorporates Albania creates every month passports with information and documents for business companies that register for economic activity in Albania. January-September 2020, 1884 companies registered with the National Business Centre. This includes 215 companies with Italian stock capital (partially or fully); 57 companies registered in 2020 result of Egyptian capital (shareholder or partner). 15 businesses, where partners or shareholders are also citizens with German passport and 12 business…

Exclusive clients for municipalities, Open Procurement supports fact-based journalism

The Risk Assesment Open Procurement Albania the algorithm for assessing the tenders of 61 municipalities in the country has promoted and strengthened fact-based journalism as civic journalism. JOQ, a massively and famous portal for its sense of humour, has published a list of individuals and businesses baptised as Municipality Clients. These businesses seem to have been awarded a significant share of contracts by certain municipalities through direct negotiations, and…

Register of Magistrates, data and documents on Justice individual Integrity

 Akses Info Drejtësi Database is a data mine into the justice system. A passport of information, documents, and data is created for each individual that is promoted and qualified in the vetting process, enabling public monitoring of individual integrity. This data is restructured, setting a model for the Magistrates’ Register . The Register represents a legal obligation for the new justice institutions, not yet fulfilled. Access to Justice contains data…