Procurement’s Estimated Value – a Hot Potato for the Contracting Authorities

SKOPJE, March 16, 2015 – Today, the Centre for Civil Communications published the results from its regular monitoring of public procurements implemented by local authorities for the period April – September 2014. Key findings include:

• Long-awaited and, for the companies, highly-desired novelty in public procurements defined as mandatory publication of the procurement’s estimated value, seems to be a hot potato for the contracting authorities which, most of them, do not know how to handle. Notably, there are numerous examples of tender procedures that have raised certain problems in terms of their implementation, with reasons thereof stemming from the procurement’s estimated value.
• Series of changes made to the legislation on public procurements, at least in the first months of their application, have not resulted in increased competition in tender procedures on local level. In the monitoring sample, the average competition accounted for 2.7 bidders per procedure, while 38% of monitored tender procedures included one or no bid.
• After a two-year period in which the share of annulled tender procedures has been stabilized at around 15%, annulment of tender procedures on local level is again on the rise and accounts for 20%. Contrary to practices observed in the past when the main ground indicated for tender annulment was absence of bids, nowadays the main reason implies unfavourable prices.
• Average duration of public procurement procedures from the monitoring sample, from announcement of procurement notice to contract signing, accounts for 33 days and implies small improvement compared to the previous period.
• In some public procurement procedures, the subject is specified in such great details that it literally refers to specific product, although such practices are prohibited and limited by the Law, and have been continuously indicated to as poor practices that favour certain bidding companies.

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

USAID Civil Society Project is implemented by the Foundation Open Society – Macedonia (FOSM) in partnership with the Centre for Civil Communications, the Youth Educational Forum, Reactor – Research in Action, and Forum – Centre for Strategic Research and Documentation.

NOTE TO THE EDITORS:

The American people, through USAID, have invested over $500 million in Macedonia since 1993. USAID works 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 USAID Macedonia Website and USAID Macedonia Facebookpage.

СКОПЈЕ, 27 ноември 2014 година – Денеска во Скопје се одржа конференција за актуелните состојби во сферата на јавните набавки во Македонија и во земјите од регионот. Повод за дискусија беа резултатите од споредбената анализа на спроведувањето на јавните набавки во четири земји од регионот – Македонија, Србија, Босна и Херцеговина и Црна Гора, чии вкупни набавки на годишно ниво изнесуваат околу 5 милијарди евра.

Преку следење на конкретни, истородни, постапки за јавни набавки, анализата укажува на добрите и лошите страни во системите на јавни набавки на четирите вклучени држави во сите фази на тендерите – од планирањето до нивната реализација.

„Меѓу слабите точки детектирани со анализата се: неадекватното планирање на набавките, малата конкуренција, дискриминаторските услови за учество на тендерите, отсуството на следење на реализацијата на договорите за јавни набавки, како и ниското ниво на свесност кај државните институции за поголема отчетност за трошењето на јавните пари“, истакна Сабина Факиќ од Центарот за граѓански комуникации – Скопје, организација која го спроведе истражувањето за Македонија.

Според директорката на Бирото за јавни набавки, Маре Богева Мицовска „споредено со земјите од регионот, Македонија отскокнува од аспект на високото ниво на поставеност и функционирање на системот за јавни набавки. Во наредениот период треба да се вложи особено внимание во реализацијата на договорите за јавни набавки, а поактивни треба да бидат и самите понудувачи во заштитата на своите права“.

Универзитетскиот професор Никола Тупанчески истакна дека „казните во Законот за јавни набавки се премногу остри и неусогласени со Кривичниот законик“.

Посебен акцент на конференцијата беше ставен на новите правила на ЕУ за јавните набавки и отстапувањето на новите измени во законите за јавни набавки во дел од земјите од Западен Балкан од новите европски директиви. Посочени се значајни разлики во оваа смисла кои треба да се имаат предвид во подобрувањето на законските регулативи.

Конференцијата е дел од регионалниот проект „Кон ефикасни механизми во јавните набавки во државите (потенцијални) кандидати за членство во ЕУ“ што го спроведуваат шест невладини организации од Македонија, Србија, БИХ, Црна Гора и Словачка. Проектот е финансиран од ЕУ, во рамките на ИПА програмата за „Поддршка на граѓанското општество“.

SKOPJE, November 17, 2014 – Today, the Centеr for Civil Communications published monitoring report which includes the results from survey of companies inquiring about their experiences in public procurements and comparative analysis of legal protection in public procurements and related administrative costs - Мacedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro, Hungary and Czech Republic.

Companies’ survey was conducted in the period June-July 2014 and targeted a total of 267 economic operators based and operating in all bigger towns and regions countrywide. Key conclusions of the survey are:

• Main problems companies face in public procurement procedures include: ample scope of documents required for participation in tender procedures, late collection of receivables for implemented procurement contracts and definition of eligibility criteria for participation in tender procedures that favour particular bidders.
• Companies that have been awarded procurement contracts, in average, wait for six months to collect their receivables related to the contract performance.
• Dominant share of surveyed companies believe that e-auctions result in attainment of unrealistically low prices, whereby quality is disregarded on the account of procurement prices.
• High costs related to and distrust in appeal procedures are main reasons on whose account 93% of surveyed companies rarely or never motion appeals against public procurement procedures.
• On the scale from 1 (negative) to 5 (excellent), companies assess the overall process on public procurements in the country with 2.86, which implies an insignificant improvement compared to 2012 assessment of 2.84.

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

NOTE TO THE EDITORS:

USAID Civil Society Project is implemented by the Foundation Open Society – Macedonia (FOSM) in partnership with the Centre for Civil Communications, the Youth Educational Forum, Reactor – Research in Action, and Forum – Centre for Strategic Research and Documentation.

The American people, through USAID, have invested over $500 million in Macedonia since 1993. USAID works 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 USAID Macedonia Website and USAID Macedonia Facebook page.

SKOPJE, 17 October 2014 – Today, the Centre for Civil Communications published the results from its regular monitoring of public procurements implemented by local authorities for the period October 2013 - March 2014. Key findings include:

- Once “lowest price” was introduced as the single criterion on awarding public procurement contracts, and e-auctions are mandated for all tender procedures, there are numerous examples of tender procedures that have attained extremely low prices whereby the quality of the execution of the contact is questioned.

- Transparency remains one of the major problems affecting public procurements in the country. Some state institutions either do not publish tender data or publish them late, while others do not disclose information requested by means of FOI applications.

- Several months (October-December 2013) before legal provisions on mandatory publication of tender documents enter in effect (from January 2014), including legal provisions whereby defining eligibility criteria for tender participation becomes difficult and liable to sanctions (from May 2014), 45% of tender procedures monitored have not published their relevant tender documents, while as high as 60% of them included high eligibility criteria for tender participation.

- Tender annulments continue to create problems in the field of public procurements. In this monitoring period as well, the share of annulled tender procedures ranges around the average of 15% calculated for local level public procurements.

- Deadline on selection decision-taking is complied with, but signing of procurement contracts is postponed.

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

NOTE TO THE EDITORS:

USAID Civil Society Project is implemented by the Foundation Open Society – Macedonia (FOSM) in partnership with the Centre for Civil Communications, the Youth Educational Forum, Reactor – Research in Action, and Forum – Centre for Strategic Research and Documentation.

Since 1993, the American people, through the USAID, have invested over 500 million USD in Macedonia. USAID is working with the people of Macedonia to create jobs, strengthen democratic institutions and practices, enhance integrated education, and prepare students for the labour market. These initiatives improve the quality of life and support Macedonia’s transition into a stable and prosperous democracy. USAID provides economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 100 countries worldwide. For more information see: macedonia.usaid.gov or follow USAID Macedonia on Facebook: www.facebook.com/USAIDMacedonia.