SKOPJE, March 14, 2013 - A group of Macedonian journalists were acquainted with the practices and experiences of their Bulgarian colleagues and experts on how to inform better the public through the application of the Law on Free Access to Public Information, during a three-day study visit to Bulgaria.

Attorney-at-law in the Access to Information Program in Sofia, Alexander Kashumov, who helps journalists in the exercise of this right, encouraged Macedonian journalists to use more all the opportunities that are available through the Law to gain information from state institutions.

Kashumov stressed that Bulgarian institutions nowadays publish lot of information that earlier journalists have been obtaining by submitting requests for access to public information.

Aleksenija Dimitrova, editor in one of the biggest newspapers "24 Hours", who released exclusive and confidential information on domestic and foreign policy of Bulgaria in the last 15 years through the mechanisms for access to public information, encouraged Macedonian journalists to use this right not only for everyday reporting, but also for in-depth research and reporting.

СКОПЈЕ, 28 февруари 2013 година - Центарот за граѓански комуникации, во партнерство со невладините организации НВО Инфоцентар и ЕХО ги издаде насоките за јавни политики за унапредување на транспарентното и отчетното локално владеење, како завршен документ од тригодишниот Проект на УСАИД за транспарентно владеење што овие три организации го спроведуваа од 2009 до 2013 година.

Документот е плод на повеќе од тригодишното работење со 13 општини од цела Македонија и секојдневното согледување на состојбите, промените, проблемите и потребите на локалните заедници, а во насока на натамошното унапредување на еден од најзначаните процеси во земјава - децентралнизацијата.

SKOPJE, 14 February 2013 – Today the Center for Civil Communications published findings from their monitoring of public procurement procedures that were implemented by local government institutions between April and September 2012.

A problem present in almost one third of the monitored local tenders is the use of eligibility criteria that were inappropriate to the subject of the procurement, the estimated value of the tender, or the market conditions.

The legal obligation to organize an e-auction for all public procurements, regardless of their value, has become more difficult to adhere to in local tenders. Hence, e-auctions took place in only 46% of the monitored procedures.

Local institutions frequently do not exhibit transparency and accountability in public procurements, not only when these principles should be a reflection of good governance, but also when such conduct is stipulated by law.

Tender annulment is also an issue for local level public procurements, with 15% annulled during the monitored period.  However, this is considerably lower than the percentage of central level tenders that were annulled (25%) during that period.

Companies that participate in tenders organized by local government institutions point to the following problems as the most frequent: the large amount of required documentation for bids, technical specifications, eligibility criteria and the evaluation process, short deadlines, and the obligatory e-auction.

The report is available on-line at www.ccc.org.mk.  For further information please contact the Centre for Civil Communications at (02) 3213-513 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

You can find the report here

SKOPJE, December 28, 2012 – Today the Centre for Civil Communications published findings from their monitoring of public procurement procedures in Macedonia covering the period from July to September 2012.  Some of the key findings are:

• There is a continually increasing problem of annulment of larger tenders -  those for procurement of goods and services costing more than 20,000 euros or for implementation of works costing more than 50,000 euros.  There is an increasing trend of adopting decisions to annul such tenders mainly because the estimated value of the procurement is lower than the bids offered by the companies.
• Some institutions continue to disobey the rule for accurate definition of the evaluation criteria. Instead of the quality of a bid, some tenders mainly appraise the experience of the bidding companies.
• In the third quarter of 2012, 210 contracts amounting to 14 million euros were concluded through non-transparent negotiating procedures without publishing a call for bids. Overall, in the first nine months of 2012, the value of such contracts amounted to approximately 32 million euros.
• A comparative analysis of the Macedonian legislation and seven European countries indicates that no other country creates so-called ”black lists” of bidders that are banned from participating in tender processes for a given time period (1 to 5 years) for activating  bank guarantees.

The monitoring report is available on-line at www.ccc.org.mk.  For further information please contact the Centre for Civil Communications at (02) 3213-513 or at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

NOTE TO EDITORS:

The USAID Civil Society Project is a two and a half-year project financed by USAID and implemented by the Foundation Open Society - Macedonia in partnership with: the Center for Civil Communications; Youth Educational Forum; Reactor - Research in Action; and Forum - Center for Strategic Research and Documentation.

The American people, through USAID, have invested over $500 million in Macedonia since 1993. USAID is working with the people of Macedonia to create jobs, strengthen democratic institutions and practices, enhance integrated education, and prepare students for the workforce. These initiatives improve the quality of life and support Macedonia’s transition to a stable and prosperous democracy. USAID provides economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 100 countries. For more information please visit http://macedonia.usaid.gov and USAID FB page http://www.facebook.com/USAIDMacedonia.

Пред 150 претставници на микропретпријатија, општини и локални институции, на 4 и 6 декември се промовирани регионалните центри за поддршка на микропретпријатијата од источниот регион во Штип и од вардарскиот во Велес.

Преку овие регионални центри, на 200 мали и микропретпријатија ќе им се нудат обуки, секојдневна помош и консултации. На договорните органи од 21 општина, пак, ќе им се препорачаат конкретни мерки што треба да ги преземат за намалување на постојните административни и други пречки за поголемо учество на малите и микропретпријатија во јавните набавки.