On August 27, 2025, the Annual meeting of the INTOSAI Working Group on Public Procurement Audit (WGPPA) was held in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The meeting was organized by Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation (WGPPA Chair) in cooperation with the regional audit institution (RAI) of St. Petersburg. The event was held in a hybrid format.

The meeting was attended by 42 representatives from 10 member SAIs and 2 observer SAIs, as well as by the heads and representatives of RAIs of the Voronezh and Moscow Regions, Moscow and St. Petersburg and experts from Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), the Higher School of Economics (HSE) and the Gazprombank Electronic Trading Platform.

The expert session "Current Trends in Public Procurement" gathered Ms. Elana Agapova, Director of the Center for the Development of Competition Policy and Government Procurement at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), Mr. Alexander Nesterov, Head of the International Laboratory of Game Theory and Decision-Making, Deputy Dean of St. Petersburg School of Economics and Management (HSE), Ms. Tatiana Pesegova, Head of the Center for Effective Procurement Training at Gazprombank's Electronic Trading Platform.

Ms. Elena Agapova discussed the development of the system of professional education and advanced training in the field of the public procurement process. Mr. Alexander Nesterov presented the results of a study on bid leakage in the analysis of public procurement in the Russian Federation using artificial intelligence technologies and large language models. Ms. Tatiana Pesegova highlighted the main features and challenges of digitalization of procurement for the public and quasi-public sector.

During the session "Auditing Public Procurement: SAIs and RAIs’ experience", representatives of the SAIs of Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Russia and Thailand shared their national experience in the development and audit of public procurement. The key issues for discussion were the centralization and standardization of procurement, digitalization of the procurement process, as well as the development of green procurement practices. The RAIS of St. Petersburg and the Moscow Region also presented their experience in procurement auditing.

During the technical session, the meeting participants approved amendments to the Group's Terms of Reference (ToR) and Working Plan for 2025-2026, as well as holding an in-person meeting in 2026.

New projects and priorities of the Working Group for 2025-2027 include:

• Preparation of an educational course based on INTOSAI's Guidance for audits of public procurement (GUID 5280) for INTOSAI's Digital University Community platform;
• preparation of the Handbook on public procurement auditing;
• preparation of other topicl manuals and methodological documents;
• updating the Group's website;
• conducting multilateral seminars on the exchange of experience on the subject of reference prices and evaluation of subcontractors;
• The annual meeting of the Working Group will be held in person in 2026.