In Kumanovo today, the USAID Project for Microenterprise Access to Public Procurement celebrated the expansion of its Veles center services to cover the Northeast region.  Project staff presented the range of services which will now be available to microenterprises in the region, talked about the impact the project has had on microenterprises in the Vardar and Eastern regions, and encouraged those in attendance to enroll in the program.

“Microenterprises are recognized worldwide as important elements of national economies, contributing significantly to employment expansion and poverty alleviation,” said USAID Mission Director James Stein.  “Though public procurement bids are estimated at roughly $1.2 billion annually, microenterprises traditionally do not participate in them.  We want to change that.”

As the USAID project expands services to the Northeast as well as Southeast regions, it will offer training, everyday technical assistance, and information to 300 microenterprises from 35 municipalities.  In addition, for over 300 local contracting authorities, it will offer concrete measures to reduce the current administrative burdens and other barriers faced disproportionately by microenterprises.

NOTES TO THE EDITORS

The American people, through USAID, have invested more than $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.

The USAID Project for Microenterprise Access to Public Procurement, implemented by the Center for Civil Communications in partnership with Focus Foundation and EHO, increases awareness of public procurement market opportunities for microenterprises; provides them with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to participate in government contracting; and streamlines cumbersome public procurement administrative procedures.

SKOPJE, 20 May 2014 – Today, the Centre for Civil Communications published the Monitoring results for public procurement procedures in Macedonia for the period October – December 2013, and the Index of Rationality no. 10.

Key findings related to monitoring of public procurements include:

• In 2013, competition in public procurements remained low. Average number of bids submitted in 2013 tender procedures monitored (total of 160) is 2.6 and more than one third of tender procedures received only one bid.
• Six years have passed from the entry into effect of the Law on Public Procurements (LPP), but some institutions continue to act contrary to the legal provisions contained therein and companies are still unaware of their rights related to legal remedies.
• In the course of 2013, a total of 1,368 procurement contracts were signed by means of negotiation procedures without previously announced calls for bids and they account for around 81 million EUR.
• In 2013, 22.7% of all tender procedures were annulled. Moreover, most frequently annulled are tender procedures in the value up to 20,000 EUR.
• Multiannual trend of decreasing the number of appeals lodged by the companies in front of the State Commission on Public Procurement Appeals continues. SCPPA approved every third motion for appeal and most of its decisions taken in the appeal procedure concern complete annulment of tender procedures.

SKOPJE, 12 May 2014 – Today, the Center for Civil Communications published the results from its regular monitoring of public procurements implemented by local authorities for the period April-September 2013. Key findings include:

• Although mandated by law, e-auctions were not organized in 53% of tender procedures monitored, primarily due to the fact that the contracting authority received only one bid or only one bid was considered adequate.
• Notifications on signed procurements contracts are published late or have never been published in 41% of tender procedures monitored.
• In as many as 53% of public procurements monitored, the contracting authorities, i.e. the state institutions defined eligibility criteria for tender participation that can be considered inadequate and counter-proportional to the procurement’s subject or value.
• Public procurements on local level included in the monitoring sample often used payment deadline as a bid-evaluation element that ultimately determines the bidding company to be awarded the public procurement contract.
• Late payment of contract performance, short deadlines for submission of bids, restrictive terms and conditions and administrative burdens related to tender participation, insufficient and untimely communication with the contracting authorities and primacy of price over quality in public procurements are just few of the problems faced by small and micro companies that participate in tender procedures organized on local level. Representatives of these companies propose extension of deadlines, timely payment of completed procurements, division of procurements into lots, but also increased professionalism on the part of contracting authorities when drafting the tender documents and technical specifications.

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 a 2.5-year project funded by the USAID and implemented by the Foundation Open Society – Macedonia (FOSM) in partnership with the Center for Civil Communications, the Youth Educational Forum, REACTOR – Research in Action, and Forum – Center 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 labor 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.

SKOPJE, 31 January 2014 – Today, the Center for Civil Communications published the monitoring results for public procurement procedures in Macedonia for the period July-September 2013. Key findings include:

Almost one third of tender procedures from the monitoring sample, have been completed with awarding the procurement contract to the single bidding company that participated therein. In such cases, the tender procedure is not completed with the organization of electronic competition for reduction of initially bided prices, i.e. with the so called e-auction. On the account of this, tender procedures with one bidder that has been awarded the contract imply a major risk of signing the procurement contract under prices higher than the actual market prices.

• Some contracting authorities continue to use bid-evaluation elements that do not guarantee objective selection of the most favourable bid. Cases have been noted where the contracting authorities allocated points to the bidding companies with whom they have signed procurement contracts in the past, as well as cases in which there is no clear methodology on point-ranking of the quality element.
• In the third quarter of 2013, the value of contracts signed by means of negotiation procedure without prior announcement of call for bids amounts to 21.3 million EUR and represents an increase by 52% compared to same period last year. In accumulative terms, procurement contracts signed in this manner in the first 9 months of 2013 amount to a total of 47.7 million EUR.
• In the third quarter of 2013, every fourth tender procedure was unsuccessful (25.7%). The most frequently indicated reason for tender annulment is the fact that the contracting authority did not receive any acceptable or adequate bids.

This Report is available at www.ccc.org.mk. For more information, please contact the Center for Civil Communication 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 a 2.5 years project funded by the USAID and implemented by the Foundation Open Society – Macedonia (FOSM) in partnership with the Center 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.