In the premises of the Public Procurement Administration a meeting was held between Mr Gerald Hauser, Commercial Attache of the Austrian Embassy and Ms Biljana Radonjić, Head of the Office for Economy Affairs of Austria in Montenegro on one side, and on the other Mr Mersad Mujević, Director of the PPA and Mr Tomo Miljić, Member of the Commission for Control of Public Procurement Procedures.
As official representatives of Austrian economy and economic operators, they initiated this meeting in purpose of correct interpretation of the legislation and, among other issues, providing answers related to participation of Austrian bidders in public procurement procedures, competences of the bodies in charge of issuing documents and providing expert opinions and certification of the documents issued by the bodies of the Austrian Republic by the diplomatic missions of Austria in Montenegro.
The Public Procurement Administration introduced the guests to the fact that the public procurement system in Montenegro was compliant to the acquis in terms of the principles. Acquis communautaire related to public procurement includes basic procurement principles such as: transparency, equal treatment, freedom of competition and non-discrimination. These principles are fully applied to public procurement in Montenegro, regardless of the procurement value, including also the procurements below the thresholds stipulated by the Directives, as well as to those whose value is higher than the thresholds contained in the Directives.
It was mentioned that the PPL of MNE (Official Gazette of Montenegro 42/11), does not recognize implicitly preferential treatment for domestic bidders compred to the foreign bidders, and that the protection of rights of the participants in public procurement procedures and of the public interest is ensured in all phases of the public procurement procedure.
Mr. Hauser, Mujević & Miljić
At the meeting it was also stated that the “Agreement on Mutual Legal Exchange between the Two Countries” had been signed, which corresponds to the Article 73 of the Public Procurement Law of Montenegro, which states that:
““in case that the contracting authority requires a proof on fulfilment of quality standards (certificates, or licences or other acts on quality compliance) it shall, in accordance with the Law, accept as equivalents the certificates issued by authorized bodies of the European Union member states or other countries. A contracting authority shall accept the proof on fulfilment of quality standards in other form, in case that the bidder provides a proof that it has no possibility or right to request the proofs referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article. If the seat of the bidder is located in another country, the documents proving the fulfilment of conditions referred to in Articles 65 and 67 of this Law must be certified by the competent authority of the country where the bidder is seated (administrative or judicial body, or Chamber of Economy) or by the embassyof that country in Montenegro”.
It was concluded at the meeting that, with regard to the Agreement, the Austrian companies shall have the same treatment as domestic economic operators. Consequently, the document issued in the Republic of Austria shall be treated in the same manner as the documents issued in Montenegro. In exceptional cases when in public procurement procedure some of the bidders files a complaint, the examination of submitted documents shall be performed in accordance with the Law. It was also noted that these cases shall be resolved in the shortest possible time, all in purpose of better cooperation with the Embassy of the Republic of Austria.
PR Department of the Public Procurement Administration
