The limited competition in public procurement in Balti impedes the efficient management of the budgetary resources allocated for procurement of goods/ services/works. The public procurement monitoring report for Bălți which was presented on October 22 points out that this deficiency was highlighted by the fact that multiple procedures have been canceled due to lack of competition.

The author of the report, Diana Grosu, selected several high-value contracts in the monitoring process, including:

- The contract for the reparation of Strîi street, for which 820 thousand lei were allocated. Only the municipal company Î.M. DRCD responsible for road repairs participated in the tender. There was found a difference of only 1% between the announced winning bid and the estimated value of the project, which proves the contract authority's lack of interest in attracting other economic agents to the public procurement procedure. Thus, there is a high risk of additional, unpredicted works. Also, the contract authority does not specify how the estimated value of the works was drawn up.

- The public tender "Vehicles for the collection of household solid waste". Only two offers have been submitted under this procedure (by Eximotor LLA and Autoprezent LLA). Eximotor's LLA bid of 2.5 million lei was declared the winner according to the "lowest price" criterion. However, after the delivery of the vehicles, it was found that they can not be fully used according to their destination, as they were not properly adapted for waste collection.

- The public tender "Renovation of the Ştefan cel Mare Street cover".  NouConst LLA was designated the winner of the auction with a bid worth 11.1 million lei. It is not specified how the guarantee of proper execution was drawn up (by the successive withholding of the payment invoices), which in this case amounts 15% of the value of the works. Contrary to legal provisions and good practices on transparency, there is no announcement on the website of the City Hall with regard to the reason for the delay, or about the need to extend the period of execution of works on this street.

In conclusion, Dina Grosu argues that it is necessary to centralize the data on public procurement within the local authority and to publish it in full. For complex work purchases, it is also recommended the contracting of authorized persons, avoiding restrictive requirements in the awarding documentation and improving the internal audit of the institution, including the assessment of corruption risks.

The report can be accessed here.

This report has been produced within the “Promoting sustainable local development through transparent use of public money” project, implemented by IDIS „Viitorul”, funded by Policy Association for an Open Society (PASOS), subgrant within the project “Partners in Empowerment”, with the assistance of the European Union and co-funded by the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The content of this document is of the sole responsibility of the partners in the PiE project, and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union and other donors.

For more details, please contact the Public Relations Coordinator of IDIS Viitorul, Victor URSU at ursu.victoor@gmail.com or call him at 069017396.