Commission that rated company close to HDZ and SNSD as best bidder made numerous omissions

(Patria) - In the Report on the execution of expert assistance in the process of procuring election technologies, sent to the Central Election Commission (CEC) of BiH, signed by Prof. Dr. Nermin Lapandić, the Public Procurement Commission is criticized for not lawfully evaluating the best bidders, reports Istraga.ba.

We remind you that the Commission determined that three companies met the conditions. In first place, thanks to dumping prices, was a consortium of IT companies connected to HDZ and SNSD, and a Korean company that organized elections in Russia.

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Commission finished its work, CEC awaits: Will the consortium connected to HDZ and SNSD get the job of delivering election technologies

(Patria) - The commission determining the best bids for the job of delivering election technologies for the upcoming elections in BiH has finished its work - it determined that three companies meet the conditions. In first place, thanks to dumping prices, was a

The consortium consisting of Planet Soft from Banja Luka, Katarina d.o.o. from Mostar, Core d.o.o. from Sarajevo, and the South Korean company Miru Systems made, at first glance, the most favorable offer for this job.

Their offer is as much as 17 million marks cheaper than the next bidder (American Smartmatic).

The third offer was submitted by the company Artco Group. They are asking for 79.7 million marks plus VAT for this job, and their delivery deadline is 170 days from the date of signing the contract.

The Report states that systemic omissions, amateurism, and conscious disregard for the tender provisions were observed during the bid evaluation process, which represents an unacceptable risk for the CEC institution.

Contradictions in the bids are mentioned, such as accepting “promises of future installation” where “possession of capacity” is required. In this regard, it is emphasized that the legality and success of the procedure can no longer be guaranteed.

“The Commission is obliged to submit a report and the Minutes of the review and evaluation of bids only after it has completed all necessary actions in the procedure to make a recommendation.

Therefore, the Commission was obliged to verify the unnaturally low price if it had already stated and assessed that the bid of the first-ranked bidder was acceptable, before submitting the decision proposal,” the Report states.

It is also emphasized that the Commission, in its report and recommendation to the contracting authority, should have detailed the existence of a suspicious price, the verification of submitted evidence or explanations from bidders, and its conclusion and recommendation for further action.

“The final decision on accepting or rejecting the bid remains with the contracting authority, i.e., the CEC, but the Commission is obliged to report thoroughly,” it is stated.

The author of the Report considers the Minutes of bid evaluation to be incomplete and illegal. In this regard, several reasons are listed.

“The Commission did not perform all legally required checks, including checking the unnaturally low price, if the bid is acceptable. Not all documents and explanations prescribed by the Instructions were attached (requests for clarification and supplementation of bids, requests for explanation of unnaturally low prices, opinions of expert services, acceptance of corrections, etc.).

It is further added that the deficiencies in the minutes submitted to the CEC members indicate a formal manipulation in which the formal responsibility for evaluating and ranking bids is essentially transferred to the CEC members, which would be a violation of procedural rules, a legal reason for annulling the procurement procedure.

“This opinion is based on the facts that the Commission submits minutes with a formally ‘correct’ recommendation, while the substantive omissions remain unaddressed.

The CEC is placed in a position where it must accept the deficient and obviously illegal Minutes or reject the minutes, thereby formally obligating itself to ‘determine’ the illegality itself and write an explanation that covers this illegality, including the commission's omissions. By this, the Commission has delegated the bid evaluation to the CEC members,” it is stated.