Competition in public procurement in Romania has declined sharply since 2017. Romania’s efforts toward transparency and anticorruption since becoming an EU member-state have been remarkable yet the results from over a decade of struggle do not seem to point in the direction of systemic improvement. On the contrary, over the recent years there have been more red flags of corruption in public procurement despite more access to information than ever before and despite years of sustained economic growth. The prevalence of red flags of corruption seems to depend on the person or the faction in power rather than the party. This is a sign that institutional checks and balances to guarantee fairness in public procurement are still lacking.