Illegal Public Procurement in the Border Police: How Cars, Shirts, Socks Were Procured...

The audit report for 2015 of the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina showed irregularities in the public procurement procedure, which was conducted by the Department for Public Procurement and Logistics, whose members were simultaneously members of the Public Procurement Commission.

This opened the public procurement control process to possible corruption, as concluded in the audit report. This is further confirmed by the fact that public procurements were often conducted through direct agreements, which most often indicates that there was no adequate procurement planning, and everything was done at the last moment.

The decision on the procurement of motor vehicles was made on July 6, 2015, and an open procedure was initiated with a total planned value of 1,812,000 BAM. The Patria Agency wrote about the procurement of a luxury 'Passat' car worth 51,300 BAM, and an off-road vehicle 'Tuareg' worth 102,000 BAM, with additional parts worth another 6,000 BAM. This involves the procurement of a luxury car to which only members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina are entitled, although the director and deputy director of the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zoran Galić and Zijad Srabović, purchased them for themselves.

In 2015, a total of 32 cars were purchased exclusively from one supplier, 'MRM' d.o.o. Ljubuški, and were paid 1,600,000 BAM.

In the procurement of uniforms, the lowest price was stated as a criterion. The tender documentation provided for concluding agreements with multiple bidders. The Border Police did not adhere to this.

As with cars, so with all other public procurements, including clothing and footwear, the Border Police did not comply with the Law on Public Procurement. Shirts and T-shirts were purchased for 1,893,000 BAM, trousers for 900,000 BAM, socks for 111,000 BAM, and jackets for 1,090,000 BAM. In all these cases, according to the audit report, it is a matter of non-compliance with legal procedures. For many, the price of shirts at nearly 45 BAM per piece was also suspicious.

The violation of the Law on Public Procurement indicates that corruption was very possible in this business within the operations and work of the Border Police. The audit report is a serious warning about irregularities in the Border Police of Bosnia and Herzegovina.