Sejari Company Director for NAP: We Demand Compliance with the Public Procurement Law

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The director of Sejari d.o.o. company, Hasan Sarajlija, reacted to the accusations made a few days ago by the interim manager of KJKP Gras, Haris Gušić, that the company Sejari is obstructing the procurement of minibuses. Sarajlija rejects such claims and explains that Sejari company exclusively demands compliance with the law, in this case, the Public Procurement Law.

In an interview with the Patria agency, Sarajlija recalled the beginning of 2016 when everything started with the tender for the procurement of eight new minibuses.

- The first tender for the procurement of eight new minibuses was announced at the beginning of 2016. The technical characteristics of the requested vehicles were such that they favored the model of only one manufacturer, in this case OTOKAR. The contracting authority was the Ministry of Transport of Sarajevo Canton. The ISUZU manufacturer's model, which we represent, was discriminated against in about ten characteristics. Of course, Sejari d.o.o. company appealed, in accordance with the Public Procurement Law, the unequal and discriminatory treatment compared to another potential bidder. After a series of complaints, the Contracting Authority finally accepted all our remarks, and at the end of 2016, a tender for the procurement of 12 new minibuses was announced, in which the representative of OTOKAR and we, as the distributor of ISUZU buses for Bosnia and Herzegovina, submitted bids – says Sarajlija.

He adds that the bids were opened on November 22, 2016, and that Sejari company's bid was the most favorable. They received the Decision from the contracting authority that they were selected as the most favorable bidder.

- We immediately ordered the vehicles and started preparations for their delivery. We wanted to deliver the vehicles in 2016 so that the citizens of Sarajevo would have 12 new minibuses in public city transport for the New Year 2017. The appeal period was, in accordance with the Law, ten days. On the tenth day, we received a notification that the tender was canceled due to the appeal filed by the representative of OTOKAR. Fortunately, we had not paid for the vehicles, which would have caused us huge losses. With great regret, and with a thorough explanation to the manufacturer, we had to cancel the order. Therefore, we won the first tender, and it makes no sense for us to 'block' it ourselves; rather, it was 'blocked' due to the appeal of another potential bidder – explains Sarajlija.

He also states that the criterion for evaluating bids was subsequently changed from 95% price and 5% delivery time to 97.5% price and 2.5% delivery time in all subsequent tenders.

- Scoring under these conditions in all subsequent announced tenders favors the OTOKAR minibuses bidder – states Sarajlija.

At the beginning of 2017, two tenders were announced. One by the Ministry of Transport of Sarajevo Canton (12 vehicles), and the other by the Municipality of Stari Grad (6 vehicles).

- Both tenders were announced with completely identical technical specifications. One technical characteristic in the announced Tender Documentation eliminates ISUZU as a potential bidder, while keeping OTOKAR in the game. Wishing for equal status in the tender competition, Sejari company again filed an appeal, but both Contracting Authorities rejected the appeals submitted to them, and according to the procedure in accordance with the Public Procurement Law of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the appeals are forwarded to the BiH Review Committee.

The Review Committee accepted the appeal submitted to the Municipality of Stari Grad contracting authority, and after almost a month of waiting, rejected the appeal submitted to the Ministry of Transport of Sarajevo Canton contracting authority, even though they had completely identical grounds.

- We expected that in the case of the Municipality of Stari Grad, where the appeal was accepted, a new tender would be announced that would allow all potential bidders to participate equally, but that did not happen. We never found out why. Therefore, this tender was not blocked by Sejari company either, because a new tender was never announced – said Sarajlija.

- The second tender, where the appeal was rejected, was re-announced on May 11, 2017, and bids were submitted by the representative of OTOKAR and us as the representative of ISUZU. This tender was canceled solely by the Ministry of Transport of Sarajevo Canton, because, as stated in the explanation, no bidder was qualified. The tender was canceled by the Ministry of Transport of Sarajevo Canton, not by Sejari company – says Sarajlija.

The current tender for the procurement of 12 new minibuses was announced on August 8, 2017. The opening of bids was scheduled for September 22, 2017. Sejari company prepared and submitted its bid on time. However, when the representatives of Sejari company arrived at the bid opening, they received a notification at the gate that the bid opening was postponed.

- That tender is still ongoing, meaning no one has blocked or canceled it yet, not even Sejari company. And then, suddenly, comes the decision of KJKP GRAS to purchase 25 minibuses.

Sarajlija states that they were surprised by this decision, considering that the tender procedure, albeit for a smaller number of vehicles, was still ongoing.

- The decision was published on the GRAS website on November 18, 2017, on a Saturday, which is interesting, and the vehicles arrived in Tuzla the same day. And not just any vehicles, but OTOKAR manufacturer vehicles. Our suspicions that these were precisely the vehicles for this purpose were confirmed by the media on November 22, when the news was published that 25 vehicles would be on the streets of Sarajevo by the beginning of December. Of course, in accordance with the Law, we filed a complaint regarding such a procedure. Our complaint was accepted, and this decision was withdrawn. In the opinion of our legal team, this decision is contrary to the Public Procurement Law. It is interesting that, according to the pictures that were circulating, these vehicles are not intended for city transport at all, and it is unclear to us how they could meet the needs for transport in the inner city core – concluded Sarajlija.