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IPP opinion poll on public acquisitions: 87% of Romanians think tenders are incorrect and 91% consider they are politically influenced
The Institute for Public Policies, IPP, released on 20 September and opinion poll organized at national level in July , which measured the Romanians’ perceptions of the fairness and efficiency of the process of public acquisitions in Romania. According to IPP, 40% of people interviewed think tenders in the field of road building are affected by corruption, 87% consider tenders are incorrect and 91% say contracts are granted politically.According to IPP, the opinion poll was made over 7-14 July 2011 on a sample of 1040 persons. The questionnaire was applied through the face to face method in the homes of people interviewed. The sample is representative for the adult urban population, the margin of error being +-3%.
The main conclusions are:
* in key fields for Romanian economy, such as roads (40%), health (27%), constructions (16%) and IT (7%) the Romanians consider there is corruption;
* 49% of people interviewed heard about corruption cases which involved public purchases. Only 7% of people consider that the process of public purchases is correct and 87% think that at present, public acquisitions are incorrect;
*asked which public institutions spend public money correctly, 64% name local administration and only 13% central administration;
* 91% of people participating in the poll consider that the process of granting public contracts is politically influenced;
* 50% consider that foreign firms are more correct in the way in which they participate in public purchases and only 3% consider that Romanian companies are more correct;
* 52% of people support the setting up of a national structure by means of which public tenders should be carried out;
• as for the credibility of the process of public purchases 69% of people consider that if an irregularity were discovered in a public tender the people invo9lved would not be punished;
• 37% consider there is more corruption in purchases with money from the state budget and only 19% think purchases using European money are more corrupt;
• 47% consider that by setting up a ministry of European funds tenders with European money would be more correct and 43% think they would not. (Source: IPP opinion poll)
The poll also showed that most Romanians find information about public tenders on the Internet and in the press.
IPP conclusion on opinion poll results:
- Poll data show a low degree of confidence in the process of public acquisitions in Romania and from this perspective central institutions should make purchase procedures at central and local level more credible. In its turn the civil society should get more involved in advertising the importance of the process of public purchases, considering the people’s obvious interest in the way in which public money is spent and their reasonable information on the matter. (Source: IPP opinion poll).