The High State Audit (ALSAI), in preparing its Annual Audit Planning Methodology document, published in March 2024, (page 7), listed AIS’s Open Data platforms – Open Procurement Albania and Open Spending Albania – as sources contributing to the collection of information and alerts during the drafting it’s the Annual Audit Plan.

Throughout 2023–2024, data on high-risk procurements has been exchanged. This means that tenders marked with a Red Flag on the Open Procurement Albania dashboard are now included as potential audit targets by ALSAI.
The Special Prosecution Office against Corruption has criminally prosecuted seven mayors and over 20 high-ranking municipal officials in the past 12 months for the criminal offense of inequality in tenders. All the investigated tenders had previously been flagged and listed with Red Flags on the dashboard and the public procurement portal.
Public pressure on abuses and issues in municipal tenders has reached its peak thanks to the activities and outputs of our Open Procurement Albania database.
In the Annual Report on the Work of the SPAK Institution, presented to Parliament and made public in April, a typical model of corruption in municipal tenders is outlined. The report exposes a fraudulent scheme for pre-selecting winners, involving businesses/legal entities managed or owned by officials or relatives of officials working within the procuring authority. (SPAK Report, page 32, publicly presented on April 4, 2024, by the Head of SPAK, Mr. Altin Dumani, in Parliament).

It is precisely our database that, for years, has marked and visualized in real-time cases of municipal tenders conducted without competition or with competitiveness issues. In addition, the tender passport also reveals the winning business, successful bidder. The integration of the Open Procurement Albania and Open Corporates Albania databases (both maintained by AIS) enables the verification of the identities and backgrounds of winning businesses. It also reveals the former owners or administrators of these businesses. In at least 35 tenders, current municipal officials have been found to be involved, awarding contracts to companies that they themselves had previously founded or owned. (Both databases support comprehensive data tracking.)
The media investigation into tenders awarded to these companies was based on evidence from two AIS-created databases: Open Procurement Albania and Open Corporates Albania.


Public pressure, open denunciations, and the exposure of high-risk tenders and competitiveness issues (flagged through Open Procurement Albania) have played a key role in initiating criminal proceedings and punishing senior municipal officials.
Below is the list of mayors under criminal prosecution and subject to security measures for offenses related to inequality in tenders and abuse of office:
- Lefter Alla – Mayor of Bulqizë Municipality, arrested and held in prison pending trial for violating equality in tenders. (Press Release)
- Rexhë Byberi – Mayor of Tropojë Municipality, under house arrest for the criminal offense of violating equality in tenders, along with three other officials.
- Fatos Tushe – Mayor of Lushnje Municipality, arrested and convicted for violating equality in tenders. (Press Release)
- Rajmonda Balilaj – Former Mayor of Patos Municipality, under investigation; the court has suspended her from public office and duties. (Press Release)
- Vangjush Dako – Former Mayor of Durrës Municipality, under investigation and held in prison pending trial for abuse of office, linked to public procurement activities. (Press Release)
- Leonidha Hristo – Mayor of Finiq Municipality, accused of violating equality in tenders. (Press Release)
- Granit Gjana – Former Deputy Mayor and District Prefect, arrested for inequality in tenders. (Press Release)
- Tirana Municipality – Nine directors are under criminal investigation with assets and assets seized for offenses related to inequality in tenders, passive corruption, and money laundering. The cases are known as the “5D” scheme, involving a company that won clientelist and pre-arranged tenders. (Press Release)
Collaboration with the Public Procurement Agency and Proposals for Legal Improvements.
- AIS has participated in public consultations on amendments and improvements to the Public Procurement Law.
- To encourage public institutions to adopt transparency models, AIS proposed that the Public Procurement Law incorporate the creation of an Electronic Tender Passport within the State Procurement System. The proposed model is based on the approach used in AIS’s Open Procurement Albania database.
- In March 2024, Parliament amended the law, approving a new provision in response to AIS’s proposal. Specifically, Article 4 of Law No. 162/2020 now includes point 33/1, which introduces the Public Procurement Passport.
