The Public Procurement Professionals Association (UPVO) as civic association was established in 2020. It is an independent civic association of natural persons and legal entities; the association's activities focus on supporting consultants and consulting companies operating in the field of public procurement. Currently, it has more than 30 members who carry out hundreds of public procurement contracts a year.

UPVO is a voluntary association of professionals engaged in public procurement as private consulting companies, represented by specific experts in the field of public procurement, or natural persons – entrepreneurs who are experts in the field of public procurement. 

UPVO imposes professional requirements on its members that guarantee that each of the members has real experience with and actively implements public procurement process, as well as strives for continuous improvement of the services provided. In practice, this means continuously getting acquainted with the dynamically changing environment and complex national and supranational legislation applicable to public procurement.

UPVO members are bound by the Code of Ethics, that applies high moral demands on the members. It is this Code of Ethics and the resulting conduct of each member that are intended to improve the image and general perception of the topic of public procurement in society-wide dialogue and to increase the credibility of this topic and its representatives.

The UPVO bodies include the Chairman, the Executive Board of the association, and the General Assembly.

UPVO was established on 8 July 2020 upon registration in the records of civic associations kept by the Ministry of Interior of the Slovak Republic under Reg. No. VVS/1-900/90-59480.

UPVO aims to establish a dialogue and mutual cooperation between consultants carrying out support activities in public procurement in order to provide a platform for formulating common positions and opinions, as well as to establish a partner with a strong mandate to negotiate and present common opinions on behalf of all members.

UPVO is a platform for exchanging experiences and constantly improving the expertise of its members, as well as a platform for unifying opinions and positions, searching for the intersection of opinions and values, as well as for subsequent joint action in communicating and applying these opinions and positions. All this is carried out with the aim of increasing the quality of provided services in public procurement, better information for the media and the general public, better exchange of information between the parties involved in public procurement, and overall improvement in the quality of the public procurement environment.

UPVO has the ambition to be a relevant partner for national as well as international public institutions, third sector organisations, as well as the media or other third parties.

To meet these goals, the UPVO intends to hold discussions with professional organisations, national and supranational bodies; participate in the legislative process; organise professional seminars, public presentations, discussion events, and educational activities; publish periodical and non-periodical publications; participate in the preparation of radio and television broadcasts; and speak in media, lectures, and discussions.

Last but not least, UPVO's goal is to popularise, objectify, and communicate the topic of public procurement to the general public in an easily understood manner.