Analysis
Summer 2017 / Issue 54
Public Procurement
Monitoring Report Highlights
Source: Center for Civil Communications, Monitoring of Public Procurements in the Republic of
Macedonia Report no. 28 (July–December 2016), May 2017. 1
Since 2008, the Centre for
Civil Communications (CCC)
has continuously monitored the
public procurements process in
Macedonia. Their analysis aims
to assess the implementation of
public procurement in light of the
new Law on Public Procurement
(2014) and the principles of trans-
parency, competitiveness, equal
treatment of economic opera-
tors, non-discrimination, legal
proceedings, cost-effectiveness,
efficiency, effectiveness and ratio-
nal public spending, commitment
to obtain the best bid under the
most favorable terms and condi-
tions, as well as accountability for
public spending.
Their most recent report is
based on a randomly selected
sample of 60 public procure-
ment procedures carried out by
contracting authorities on the
national level, for which bids
opened between July-December
2016.
Aleksandar
Narashanov,
AmCham Macedonia
KEY CCC FINDINGS
& RECOMMENDATIONS
23% of tender procedures
in 2016 were fully or partially
annulled, a 3% increase compared
to 2015. Large-scale tenders were
more frequently annulled com-
pared to small-scale ones. Moni-
toring activities recorded a series
of tender annulments that could
be considered problematic.
CCC recommendation: The
Bureau of Public Procurement
should be obliged to develop
and publish an annual review of
annulled tender procedures and
identify the contracting authori-
ties with the highest number of
annulments.
1
22
Full report available at: http://www.ccc.org.mk/images/stories/i28e.pdf.
AmCham Macedonia Magazine
Bureaucratization of public procurement procedures, includ-
ing a Council on Public Procurement approval process, remains
intense. In 2016, contracting authorities addressed the Council
with 16,067 applications for their approval, costing them total of
1.8 million EUR.
CCC recommendation: Implement European Union and
SIGMA1 recommendations to assess the Council’s benefits, can-
cel it and reallocate its resources to other institutions.
Nearly 1 in 3 tenders launched in 2016 received only 1 bid. In
2016, this situation was primarily due to low competition observed
in the first half of the year; competition increased slightly in the lat-
ter half of the year.
CCC recommendation: Introduce oversight and control of the
overall public procurement process to: prevent and sanction illegal
spending of public funds; ensure implementation of procedures in
compliance with the Law on Public Procurements; and verify per-
formance in compliance with signed contracts.
E-auctions were conducted in only 54.5% of monitored pro-
curement procedures. Institutions rushed the introduction of
e-procurements. In 2016, as many as 48% of procurements were
implemented with full use of electronic means enabled by the
e-procurement system, thus exceeding the legal minimum of 30%.
CCC recommendation: In the period 2017-2018, the Bureau
of Public Procurements should organize a cycle of free training for
microenterprises across the country to facilitate their participation
in mandatory e-auctions. e-Auctions should no longer be manda-
tory and their implementation should be modified.
In 2016, 605 procurement contracts were signed without pre-
viously-announced calls for bids; their value amounted to 34.8
million EUR (20% higher compared than in 2015). The most
expensive procurement contracts signed in this way belonged
to JSC Macedonian Power Plants and concerned excavation of
coal and slag for the RU Mines, MEC Bitola, to the tune of about
5.8 million EUR.
CCC recommendation: The legal obligation to obtain approval
for bypassing the usual bidding process should remain in effect,
regardless of whether the Council on Public Procurement remains.
The Bureau of Public Procurements should be obliged to develop
and publish annual analyses of “direct award”, including a list of
all contractors in such cases.
Among 18,444 tender procedures carried out in 2016, com-
panies lodged just 557 appeals (3% of cases), while contract-
ing authorities lodged 43 appeals against decisions taken by the
Council on Public Procurement.
CCC recommendation: Make an effort to raise awareness
among companies of available legal remedies available to them in
public procurement proceedings.