Has the Ministry of Defence been blocking the procurement of vehicles for the Armed Forces of BiH for nearly two years?!

The plan to renew motor vehicles of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, worth around 22 million KM, has not started even two years after it was supposed to happen, which could seriously jeopardise the combat readiness of the Armed Forces of BiH, multiple sources from the Ministry of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed to the Patria agency.

The Council of Ministers of BiH approved funds for the project „Ensuring and improving the operational capability of motor vehicles of the AF BiH“, which was supposed to be implemented from 2016 to 2018, but no concrete steps have been taken even after the second year. There is a reasonable suspicion that the project to renew motor vehicles of the AF BiH has been blocked due to the personal interests of HDZ Minister Marina Pendeš and her deputies.

No high-ranking officials from the Ministry of Defence of BiH are yet speaking about this issue.

One well-informed source of the Patria agency claims: “The project team, composed of several experts from various fields, prepared tender documentation for this vehicle procurement according to the highest standards. However, the tender documentation is constantly being returned to the team for revision. Certain changes are being requested that cannot be included in the tender documentation, as that would mean violating the law. Among other things, it is being requested that certain conditions for potential bidders be omitted from the tender documentation. For example, it is being requested that the bidder for the procurement of military vehicles for the needs of the AF BiH did not have to have previously delivered similar vehicles. Or, it is being requested that a company wishing to compete in this tender does not need to have a so-called security industrial permit, which is a first-class scandal.”

“It is precisely these demands from the top of the Ministry that give reason to suspect that Minister Pendeš and her closest associates want to secure the contract for a pre-arranged company, which the experts from the project team do not allow,” adds this source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as he is not authorised to give statements on behalf of the Ministry.

The tender documentation was last returned from the Cabinet of the Deputy Minister of Defence for Resources.

The source claims that the entire case contains elements of a criminal offence, as it involves the deliberate jeopardising of the combat readiness of the AF BiH.