Survey: One of Four Tenders in Macedonia Annulled

Insufficient transparency and accountability makes Macedonia's public procurement procedures murky, a local survey has shown. “Instead of improvement, Macedonia has seen worsening in this area in the past few months,” Vanja Mihajlova from the Center for Civil Communications, CCC, told media at Monday’s conference in Skopje. The NGO’s survey on procurements for the second quarter of the year shows that due to poor preparation, one out of four tenders in Macedonia are annulled.

A lack of transparency in the tendering procedures, murky and confusing procedures, and suspicions of favoritism for one bidder were evident in many cases, more than were seen in previous surveys done by the CCC.  This discourages companies and they lose interest in participating in tenders because they have no confidence in the process, the NGO explained. In 30 per cent of cases, only two or three companies entered bids. Drago Kos, the head of the Group of States against Corruption, GRECO, said that the laws tackling this subject in all Balkan countries are generally acceptable and in accordance with the EU directives.

However, “the fulfillment of the EU criteria is good but not enough,” Kos said at the conference.
The countries should look at more practical ways of tackling corruption in this area, for example by increasing fines and punishment for corruption or introducing black lists of companies and people who would be prohibited from participating in tendering procedures, Kos suggested. Nearly all parties involved in the public procurement process in Macedonia, including companies, government bodies, NGOs, the country's Anti-Corruption Commission and local experts, attended the conference.

The representatives from the state Bureau for Public Procurement said they are aware of the flaws and are making efforts to narrow the possible areas for corruption.

News source: Balkan Insight link: article