PUBLIC PROCUREMENT STRATEGY - POLICY REMARKS AND CHALLENGES FOR THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA

Public procurement is a mechanism that allows governments to secure the procurement of goods, works and services they need to function, while at the same time observing principles like transparency and equal opportunities. As well as being a necessary function and part of the public sector, public procurement can also be a generator of economic activities in its own right. If we consider the fact that public procurement makes up 14% of GDP at European Union level (European Commission, 2017a), it is evident that it represents a huge market which is, as a rule, predictable and generates enough advance information for efficient planning and management. It is beyond doubt that public procurement is recognised as a tool that governments use to guide and develop certain sectors within the economic policies that they implement. Also, it is no wonder that a number of strategic goals of the European Union are targeted at strengthening administrative capacities within the public sector that can use public procurement to boost employment, economic growth, investments and to stimulate the development of an economy that is innovative, energy-efficient and socially inclusive in the long run. The aim of this paper is to use recent domestic and foreign literature, documents and legal rules and regulations to analyse 1) the position of the Republic of Croatia in respect to the fulfilment of the strategic goals of the European Union; 2) the capacities it possesses to reach those goals and 3) make recommendation for the improvement and upgrading of the existing system.