The Wonder Chest of Public Procurement by Bistrita

At that point, for almost everybody in the room, these notions were not just new, but hard to digest. For us, being involved in previous URBACT projects, the concept of transnational project was a common one, but a Good Practice Transfer Network was as new to us as it was for everybody else. This made it all more exciting and challenging.

Two new things to deal with: an analysis of procurement that was never done before within a new type of project.

When we first heard of this project, the concept, the reason, our motivation was to explore the differences between the process of public procurement in the different countries’ partners in the project, bounded under the same European Union umbrella. This will happen throughout the entire project, at the transnational meetings and the bilateral meetings.

And so, we begin a journey full of surprises, in which we meet new people that share the same interest, we learn new things from scratch, like the Spend Analysis, and we hope for a better future, when the local partners will start to use the analysis themselves, helping the economic, social and environment development of our European city. We understand the importance of spending the public money, and within the network the aim is to start working together.

Little by little, bit by bit, we want to make a difference, to improve the life of the citizens. One of the assets of an URBACT project is the possibility of involving the citizens directly in the implementation of the project, to experience the whole process, in the framework of the Urbact Local Group.

One of the most important things we need to learn and bear in mind in implementation of each project, not just this one, is that we are not alone! We do not need to reinvent the wheel, if we can transfer the good practice of those who already faced the same problem.

Cristina Cudrec, MSM project manager assistant