In the organization of the Network for the Development of the Non-Government Sector of Institutes, the Panel Discussion held on 26 11 2014 with the beginning at 9:30 in the great hall of Hotel Ramada on the following topic `Public Procurement in Montenegro – Legal Framework and Implementation` at which its active participation on behalf of the PPA took the Director, DSc Mersad Mujevic, and Assistant Director, a graduate economist, Mara Bogavac.
Reason for the arrangement of the panel discussion is the analysis of the new legal solutions prescribed by the Amendments to the Law of 2011. In addition to the PPA representatives the introduction speeches in the panel discussion were given by the President of the State Commission for the control of public procurement procedures, Mrs Suzana Pribilović; Project Manager for the Internal Market to the EU Delegation in Podgorica, Donka Prodanova; and the Monitoring Program Director at the Network for Affirmation of NGO Sector, Vuk Maraš.
A number of the bidders, contracting authorities, representatives of the civil sector and regulatory bodies from Montenegro were in attendance to the Round Table.
In its introduction speech Director Mersad Mujević stated that the spending of the national resources has always been an important issue in various economic analyses. This issue became more important due to the World economic crisis escalation gaining in importance primarily within the EU countries and in the developing countries. In 2011, the PPL of Montenegro established new basis of the public procurement system grounded on the principles of cost-effective and efficient use of the public funds, transparency of the procedure, prevention the fraud and abuse of public funds but it did not fully meet expectations. Despite the fact that some deficiencies eliminated over time through secondary legislation, still a certain number of irregularities remain mostly due to the manner of conducting the public procurement, abnormally low penalties and small number of them, undercapacity both in financial and administrative bodies in charge of the public procurement system – in the Public Procurement Administration, the Commission for the Control of Public Procurement Procedures, and the Administrative Court.
The need for the development of the public procurement system defined by all the documents tracing the European path of our country, primarily by the EC Annual Reports on the Progress for 2013 and 2014. Also, regular reportings by the OECD experts, SIGMA PROGRAM, indicate to the need for further harmonization with the EU Directives and the Judgements of the European Court of Justice.
Codification of the norms within the public procurement system require a clear understanding and firm commitment to the integrity of all stakeholders – government authorities, business sector and society; They should be involved in the development of the public procurement system, with the aim to define specific measures both preventive and punitive focused on issues of accountability, transparency and probity at all levels of social, political and economic system.
The total value of implemented public procurement contracts registered by the PPA in 2013 amounted to 277.001.460,50€, which is 14,28% less than in 2012. The value of the contracts awarded by the transparent open procedure continued its trend in an average 90% of the contracts awarded by the open procedure which leads us to the conclusion of a stable share of procurement of low value in the total value of public procurement.
Accompanying statistics pointed to the public procurement total value in 2013 which amounted around 15% of GDP in our country. Only 1% savings on an annual basis would would equal the value of 2,5 to 3,5 million, which is certainly not negligible.
Besides the domestic, the international aspect of public procurement is very important. Precondition for the use of the EU Pre-Accession Funds, as well as the other forms of international assistance is the regulated system of public procurement which implies effective monitoring and control of the validity in the public procurement procedures. Thereby the development and operation of the public procurement system relying upon the Institutions of the appropriate capacities is the issue of utmost importance for the development.
For all these reasons, our institutions will face the severe task regarding further harmonization of the national legislation, since the existing drawbacks are eliminated just through the constant proess of harmonization.
Amendments to the Law on Public Procurement eliminate significant number of weaknesses in terms of efects that should be produced by the public procurement, particularly relating to:
1.Institutes that lack effective mechanisms of prevention of corruption in public procurement primarily in view of identifying risks in public procurement in the area of planning, preparation and selection the procurement procedures, as well as the risks in relation to the contract implementation,
2. lack of adequate and timely sanctioning in view of the breaches of the Law,
3. gap between the tasks prescribed by the Law and the capacity of appropriate institutions in charge of the public procurement policy,
4. training and the manner of the professional education of the officers managing and are engaged in public procurement tasks,
5. better coordination of the institutions.
The quality of proposed Amendments will be additionaly ensured and improved by adoption of secondary legislation with direct relevance for the implementation and enforcement of the Law.
In her presentation Mrs Pribilovic spoke on legal protection and opportunities offered by these amendments.
Mrs Prodanova pointed to the commitment to the procurement policy of the ED to Podgorica with the review to the latest EC Report on the progress of our country and quality of the legislative reforms in Montenegro.
The representatives or their authorized reprezentatives at this gathering spoke on the necessity of additional efforts involved in development of such field by complying and strengthening the public procurement principles, especially the effectiveness in spending money.
The meeting resulted in conclusions enabling amendment reaction before the final adoption thereof in those cases where it is estimated that the public procurement policy will be systematically improved.
Round table ended at 14 o’clock.
PR SERVICE IN THE PUBLIC PROCUREMENT ADMINISTRATION
