SKOPJE, August 30, 2013 – Today, the Centre for Civil Communications published the monitoring results for public procurements implemented in Macedonia in the period January-March 2013. Key findings include:

• Macedonia is among a handful of countries in the world whose Law on Public Procurement does not stipulate sanctions for violations made to legal provisions in effect, despite numerous cases of violations identified in the practice. This conclusion is based on the comparison of Macedonian legislation with relevant laws adopted and implemented in 8 European countries.
• From the monitored sample, every fourth public procurement contract was signed in a tender procedure with only one bidding company. With the lack of competition among companies, there are no guarantees that public funds are spent for quality goods and services, and are offered at favorable competitive prices.
• Companies are denied the right to demonstrate past performance acquired through joint ventures. According to the State Commission for Public Procurement Appeals’ Assessment, companies may enter into joint ventures in order to demonstrate relevant capacity for contract performance, but not for the purpose of demonstrating past performance. This implies another risk of high concentration of public procurement performance among a small group of big companies.
• Tender annulments are exceptionally high in number and account for 26.6%.
• In the first quarter of 2013, funds in the amount of 11 million Euros were contracted through negotiation without a prior announcement of call for bids.

This monitoring report is available here. 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 Centre for Civil Communications; 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 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.

SKOPJE, September 6, 2013 – Today, the Center for Civil Communications published the monitoring results for public procurements implemented by local level institutions in the six-month period from October 2012 to March 2013.

Comparative analysis of municipalities’ public procurements shows major disparities among individual municipalities, not only in terms of the total amount of public funds spent by means of public procurements, but also in terms of public procurement spending per capita that ranges from 2 EUR in the Municipality of Suto Orizari to 400 EUR in the Municipally of Centar.

Regular monitoring of public procurements provides the following conclusions:

- Certain shortcomings, remarks or inconsistencies noted in the implementation of public procurements are common for a dominant share of monitored local level procedures.

- More than half of monitored procurement procedures required the companies to fulfil certain specific eligibility criteria for tender participation, thereby limiting the competition.

- Although mandated by law, e-auctions were scheduled only in 53% of monitored procurement procedures. Dominant reason indicated for failure to organize e-auction was the fact that only one company or no companies submitted a bid.

- The share of annulled procedures from the local level monitoring sample is on the same level compared to the previous monitoring period (15%). In one-third of annulled procedures, contracting authorities indicated that the procedure has been annulled due to the fact that they have not obtained a single bid.

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 .

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 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.

SKOPJE, June 26, 2013 – The Center for Civil Communications has announced today the Index of rationality 8 which compares prices by which different state institutions on central and local level buy the very same products and services. This eighth issue of the index is done for purchasing of work clothes, work shoes, benches, original and compatible toner cartridges, and for disinfection, desinsection and deratization service. The highest difference in the prices has been noted in purchasing of work clothes and the lowest in original toner cartridges:

• for work clothes, as part of the occupational safety and health equipment, the communal enterprises paid prices ranging from 1,263 to 4,956 for a set, where the highest price paid for this product was 292% higher than the lowest price registered;
• work shoes, ankle-high, made of leather, were purchased at a price ranging from 870 to 2,596 denars, where the highest price paid for the shoes was 198% higher than the lowest price;
• benches procured by the municipalities had prices ranging from 4,838 to 12,188 denars, and the highest price paid was 152% higher than the lowest one registered in the Index;
• original toner cartridges were purchased at prices ranging from 3,622 to 4,552 denars, indicating price differences of up to one quarter, while for the compatible toner cartridges the difference is even greater and is as high as 100%, since the price paid per toner cartridge ranges from 998 to 2,006 denars.
• for the disinfection, disinsection, and deratization service the institutions paid from 3,000 to 9,310 denars per 1000 m². The highest price is 210% higher than the lowest one registered in the Index.

The Index of rationality is available here. For more information call (02) 3213 513 or send message to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Center for Civil Communications, together with BIRN Macedonia and the Centre for Investigative journalism, SCOOP Macedonia launched a call for investigative stories on May 17.

The call is part of the ‘Project for Investigative Journalism and Cooperation Between Media and Civil Society’, part of a USAID programme for strengthening independent media in Macedonia.

In the first call that closes on June 7, at least five journalists will be awarded a grant to cover their expenses while doing the investigation and writing the story. More calls for investigative grants will follow, for a total of 40 stories until June 2015.

Journalists will have about three months to dig deeper and research their ideas, but also will have the opportunity to work with experienced editors as their mentors to guide them through the process of writing to BIRN standards.

Topics for investigations include: health; cultural policy; education and youth; human rights; EU integration; good governance; inter-ethnic relations; environment issues; marginalised groups; quality of life. The call only applies to journalists from Macedonia. Click here for more detailed information.