Some of the key findings are:
The biggest issues in public procurements, according to the company survey, are the late payments on the part of the institutions for realized procurements, favoring and vague tender documentations, as well as the unrealistically laid down and difficult to meet bidding criteria for companies. These are part of the findings of the research conducted among 220 companies in 15 cities throughout Macedonia.
Around 70% of the responded companies declared they had been unprepared for the mandatory conduct of e-auctions in 2012 due to their scarce previous experience.
In the first half of this year, the number of company appeals to the State Commission on Public Procurement Appeals decreased by one third relative to the same period last year. Nevertheless, 30% of the appeals lodged have been approved, which is significantly more than the same period last year when 21% of the lodged appeals were approved.
Number of weaknesses have been noted in the selection of elements by which state institutions evaluate the received company tenders. The focus, inter alia, is on the bidders rather than on the bids, thus undermining the sole purpose of tenders – getting best value for the spent budget funds.
You can read more about the report in Macedonian and English language
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.
For more information, please contact the Center for Civil Communications at (02) 3213-513 or at center@ccc.org.mk.