Tender with absurd prices of 0,01 MKD
SKOPJE, December 04, 2017 - The Center for Civil Communications today published a report on the monitoring of public procurement conducted by the central level institutions for the period from January to June 2017.
Key findings from the monitoring of public procurement are:

• As many as 35% of monitored tender procedures have rejected a
  number of bids as unacceptable. This additionally hinders competition
  in tender procedures.
• In some tender procedures, e-auctions have resulted in attainment
  of such low prices that bring under question reality of tender
  procedures’ estimated value and quality of procurements.
• ‘Lowest price’ defined as the single criterion on contract awarding
  leads to tender procedures which have attained absurd prices of 0.01
  MKD and 0.01 percent. Such market inconsequence increases the risk
  of possible manipulations in the course of tender implementation.
• In the first half of 2017, the council of public procurements was
  addressed with 7,583 applications from contracting authorities, i.e.
  by 9% less applications compared to the same period last year. In that,
  the council invoiced contracting authorities for issuance of opinions/
  approvals in total amount of 806,172 EUR.
• In the first half of 2017, the non-transparent negotiation procedure
  without prior announcement of call for bids was used to sign
  contracts in accumulative value of 7.4 Million EUR, which is by 12%
  higher compared to the same period last year.
• Number and share of annulled tender procedures is increasing. In the
  first half of 2017, a total of 2,033 tender procedures were annulled
  (fully or in part), representing A share of 23.7% from the total number
  of procurement notices announced in the same period.
• Total of 19 negative references for 17 companies were issued in the first half of 2017.

For more information, please contact the Center 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 .

Ова е втор ваков мониторинг на медиумите, по оној во 2016 година. Мониторингот ги опфаќа истражувачките и аналитичките написи објавени во медиумите и има за цел да обезбеди доволно, квалитетни и релевантни информации кои ќе дадат оцена на застапеноста и квалитетот на истражувачките и аналитичките новинарски текстови, како и на темите и областите на кои се однесуваат тие текстови.

Воедно, резултатите од мониторингот на медиумите треба понатаму да послужат и како основа за преземање низа други акции насочени кон подобрување на медиумското известување, воопшто. На новинарите и на медиумите може да им помогне да ги лоцираат слабите страни во сегашното информирање и да им биде патоказ за унапредување на нивното известување. На невладините организации, пак, анализата може да им укаже на областите во кои е потребен поголем ангажман во насока на поредовно, попрофесионално и пообјективно информирање на јавноста.

Мониторингот на медиумите за процена на квантитетот и квалитетот на истражувачкото и аналитичкото новинарско известување се спроведува во рамките на проектот „Истражувачко новинарство за поттикнување реформи“, финансиран од Европската Унија. Целта на проектот што се реализира во периодот 2016- 2019 година е да се поттикне растот на прецизното и истражувачкото новинарство во насока на подобро информирање на јавноста и заштита на јавниот интерес. Со други зборови, целта е да се поттикнат редакциите и новинарите да се посветат на подлабока и посуштинска анализа на проблемите со што ќе се издвојат квалитативно од напливот на кратки, брзи, површни и сензационалистички информации, овозможувајќи им на граѓаните контекст и подобар увид во состојбите.

SKOPJE, 20 June 2017 – Today, the Center for Civil Communications published its monitoring report on public procurements organized by institutions at local level.

Key findings include:

- The already low competition in tender procedures organized on local level continues to decline. Monitored tender procedures were marked by an average participation of 2.4 bidding companies, while 35% of tender procedures were presented with only one bid or no bids. For comparison purposes, in the previous reporting period the average number of bidding companies per tender procedures accounted for 2.8, while 29% of tender procedures were presented with only one bid or no bids.

- Although duration of tender procedures is extended, companies have shorter deadlines for development and submission of their bids. In most cases, contracting authorities set the minimum law-stipulated deadline for bid submission. However, unlike these calendar-based deadlines, the actual deadlines for companies to develop and submit their bids are much shorter. There are cases in which companies have only had one day to develop and submit their bids.

- The share of tender annulments in the monitoring sample remains at the same high level of 18%. Dominant reasons indicated for annulment of public procurements include high prices and absence of bidding companies in tender procedures.

- Although they are mandatory for all procurements, e-auctions were organized in only 55% of monitored tender procedures. On the contrary, the share of so-called e-procurements or tender procedures fully organized in electronic manner accounted for 58%. The average price reduction at e-actions accounted for decrease by only 10%.

- There are numerous examples in which contracting authorities have taken different actions in same situations,  i.e. when bidding companies have not submitted complete bids. Some contracting authorities requested them to provide the necessary additional documents, while others immediately excluded said companies from the procurement procedure.

The report is available here. For more information, please contact the Center for Civil Communications by tel.: (02) 3213-513 or by e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Almost every third tender procedure is marked by participation of one bidding company

SKOPJE, 20 June 2017 – Today, the Center for Civil Communications published its monitoring report on public procurements organized by institutions at central level in the period July-December 2016.

Key findings include:

• In 2016, as high as 23% of tender procedures were fully or partially annulled, representing an increase by 3 percentile points compared to the previous year. Monitoring activities recorded a series of examples for tender annulments that could be assessed as problematic.
• Almost every third tender procedure is marked by participation of one bidding company. In 2016, this situation was primarily a consequence of low competition observed in the first half of the year.
• Bureaucratization of public procurement procedures with applications for approval from the Council of Public Procurements has not lost in intensity. In 2016, contracting authorities addressed the Council of Public Procurements with a total of 16,067 applications for approval, which cost them total of 1.8 million EUR.
• E-auctions were organized in only 55% of monitored procurement procedures.
• In 2016, total of 605 procurement contracts were signed without previously announced call for bids and their value amounted to 34.8 million EUR. Total value of these contracts is by 20% higher compared to 2015. The highest procurement contracts signed under this non-transparent procedure belonged to JSC Macedonian Power Plants and concerned excavation of coal and slag for the need of RU Mines, MEC Bitola, in the value of around 5.8 million EUR.
• In 2016, companies have lodged 557 appeals. The number of appeals is indicative of exceptionally small share of public procurement procedures appealed by companies, accounting for only 3%.

The report is available here. For more information, please contact the Center for Civil Communications by tel.: (02) 3213-513 or by e-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .