In the first months of its operation, the Council of Public Procurements increased the administrative burden in implementation of tender procedures, but not the competition therein. The number of bidding companies per tender procedure in the second half of 2014 is reduced, even when compared to the first half of the year.
In the second half of 2014, the Council of Public Procurements was addressed with as many as 5,725 applications for approval concerning implementation of tender procedures. The relevant ratio between approvals issued and denied is 40:60. State institutions incurred a cost of around 600,000 EUR for requesting such approvals.
All tender procedures from the monitoring sample applied the selection criterion defined as “lowest prices” – from procurement of foodstuffs, medicaments and equipment for the health care sector, to ICT equipment and construction works. Low prices, which during e-auctions result in absurdly low levels, bring under question the quality of public procurements.
Mandatory approval from the Council of Public Procurements for organization of negotiation procedures without prior 5 announcement of call for bids has reduced the number of these non-transparent procurement procedures. In the second half of 2014, this type of procedures was used to award procurement contracts in cumulative amount of 22 million EUR, whereby the annual amount of procurement contracts awarded in this manner reached 56 million EUR.
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This report is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) within the USAID Civil Society Project.