Abuses observed after public procurement procedures were eased

(Patria) - The introduction of a state of emergency in our country has, among other things, facilitated the implementation of public procurement. However, this facilitation introduced to combat the coronavirus pandemic is being used by some for other purposes.

The Public Procurement Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in consultation and with the consent of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, issued a statement on March 17, 2020, regarding public procurement necessary to prevent the spread and mitigate the consequences of the coronavirus due to reasons and under conditions of extreme urgency.

"The issued statement with the accompanying interpretation of the Law, which referred to Article 21, paragraph (1), point d) of the Law, according to which the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice can be used due to force majeure, and Article 10, paragraph (1), point b) of the Law, according to which public procurement can be exempted from the application of the Law due to special security measures in cases of extreme necessity (saving human lives, health, etc.), primarily referred to procurements that can be demonstrably linked directly to measures necessary to prevent the spread and mitigate the consequences of the coronavirus.

However, in the past few days, certain abuses of the issued statement with the accompanying interpretation of the Law have been observed, i.e., it has been noted that some contracting authorities, abusing the newly emerged situation, are using negotiated procedures without prior publication of a contract notice due to reasons of extreme urgency and exemptions from the application of the Law due to special security measures for procurements that cannot in any way be directly linked to measures necessary to prevent the spread and mitigate the consequences of the coronavirus," said the Public Procurement Agency.

They add that in this regard, they most seriously warn all contracting authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and their managers not to commit the aforementioned abuses, because otherwise, misdemeanor and criminal charges will be immediately filed against the contracting authorities and responsible persons.

"We also hereby invite all those who learn of or have information about potential described abuses to report them to the Public Procurement Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina via email: [email protected], and such reports can also be submitted anonymously without revealing the identity of the reporter," said the Agency.