Romania: EIB extends Advisory Services to improve project implementation and absorption of EU Funds

The EIB has signed additional Project Advisory Support Service Agreements (PASSAs) worth EUR 20m with:

• the Ministry of Health (MoH), for technical assistance for the construction of three Regional Emergency Hospitals in Iasi, Cluj and Craiova; and
• the National Public Procurement Agency (ANAP) for improving controlling mechanisms in public procurement and for setting up Central Procurement Bodies at a local level.

Since 2012, the EIB has been providing the Romanian authorities with Project Advisory Support, with the aim of boosting the implementation of EU-funded projects. It combines the knowledge of EIB staff and third-party consultants to support project implementation and capacity-building. EIB experts work hand-in-hand with the Romanian institutions on complex strategic projects, providing bespoke advisory products not available off-the-shelf.

The Project Advisory Support programme has proven to be a successful initiative for speeding up the implementation of EU-funded projects, bringing tangible and concrete results to the authorities and project promoters in Romania. It benefits from strong additionality as it directly addresses suboptimal investment situations and capacity gaps on the part of recipients, and has proven itself a powerful complement to other advisory programmes such as the Advisory Hub and JASPERS. It provides hands-on support on the ground and effectively responds to the needs of Romania and Bulgaria in tackling the challenges of project delivery.

EIB Vice-President Andrew McDowell stated: “EIB advisory services are a great way to help Romania to prepare projects of strategic importance for the country that can absorb EU funding, including EIB loans. In this case, we will provide Project Advisory Support to help prepare the design and construction of three badly needed Regional Emergency Hospitals in Cluj Napoca and Craiova. In addition, EIB advisory support to the National Agency for Public Procurement will improve control mechanisms in order to prevent waste and to save taxpayers’ money through more efficient regional centralised purchasing.”

Romanian Minister of Health Sorina Pintea commented: “Today we are taking another important step towards the construction of the three regional hospitals in Iasi, Cluj Napoca and Craiova. Under PASSA, we will benefit from EIB experts’ advice during the design, supervision and construction phases of the three hospitals. We are continuing our collaboration and moving from the project preparation to the project implementation stage for the construction of the regional hospitals.”

“Through the technical assistance provided by the EIB, ANAP will continue the process of strengthening the reform of ex-ante control so that it proceeds in line with the National Public Procurement Strategy. I would like to specify that it is essential for contracting authorities for the ex-ante verification made by our observers – seen so far on the market as an Achilles' heel – to work within optimal parameters,” said Mr. Bogdan Puşcaş, President of ANAP. “I also want to point out that the Bank's experts will assist the Agency in setting up centralised purchasing units at a local level. These units will bring a number of benefits to Romania's procurement system, such as transparency in public spending and greater negotiating power as a result of high procurement volumes.”

Regional Emergency Hospitals

The first Advisory Support Service Agreement (PASSA) signed with the Ministry of Health formalises the engagement of EIB experts supported by third-party consultants in providing technical assistance for the construction of three Regional Emergency Hospitals in Iasi, Cluj and Craiova. Successful implementation of the project will improve the health infrastructure in these three regions and contribute to the objectives of the cohesion policy. It will also strengthen the capacity of the Ministry of Health (MoH) to implement additional regional hospital projects on their own. The EIB team will assist the project implementation unit of this flagship transformational project to enable its effective procurement, implementation, contract management and successful completion.

Public procurement

The second PASSA signed with the National Agency for Public Procurement will add to the successful results achieved in the previous assignment by supporting ANAP in improving the efficiency of the ex-ante controls performed by the Agency as well as helping to create value for taxpayers through regionally centralised purchasing.