Year: 2011

Commission for Concessions’ 2010 report states that the register of concession contracts has been compiled. However, this is not the case because the Government itself states that the compiling of the registry is “in course”. Also, the report further states that the register will be published on the website of the Commission for Concessions as soon as possible. The deadline for making the registry available is not specified, nor is it stated that the Commission does not have a website.

Commission for Concessions produced a Report on activities for 2010, on 31 March 2011. Pursuant to the Article 16 of the Concessions Act, the Commission for Concessions is required to submit its annual reports to the Government, as well as to provide insight into the document to the Parliament and municipalities.

However, the report of the Commission for 2009 has not been published. The Commission was established in September 2009 and was supposed to prepare a report covering four months of work. In addition, from the adoption of the Concessions Act in January 2009, until the appointment of the Commission for Concessions in September 2009, activities from its jurisdiction were carried out by the Commission for Concessions and BOT arrangements.

During 2010, Commission for Concessions: 1) Discussed and approved to company “Tujko” expansion of research and exploitation of territory “Rudine in Nalježići, Municipality of Kotor, 2) Rejected a complaint about the violation of law submitted by the company “Bondtech Corporation Somerset KY USA” as a potential investor for the financing, construction and medical waste management in Montenegro, after which the company filed a complaint to the Constitutional Court, which was also rejected, 3) Approved the extension of the rights of the company “Šišković” for the exploitation of stone form the base “Visočica”; 4) Formed a working group to review documents in connection with the application of AD “Department for the construction of Bar” on the extension of rights to exploit the technical and building stone from the base “Velji Zabio”.

On 03 September 2009, the Government appointed the Commission for Concessions. Its members are: Mr Slobodan Perović (President, Ministry of Economy), Dr Radonja Minić (Member, Ministry of Economy), prof. Miodrag Bulatović (Member, Parliament of Montenegro), Vuk Božović (Member, Parliament of Montenegro), Tamara Gačević (Member, Ministry of Finance), Zoran Radonjić (Member, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management), Velimir Perišić (member, Union of Municipalities), Zoran Vulević (member, Association of Employers).

Jovana Marović
Research Coordinator

The draft Law on Public Procurement should be reviewed before a proposal gets on the agenda of the Parliament. Some provisions of the draft Law require further attention and improvement.

The Draft Law provides obligatory revision of the contracts worth over €1,000,000 by the State Commission, although an earlier version of the Draft had set a threshold at €500,000. We believe that an obligatory revision for contract value of over €500,000 represents a better solution. Transparency is improved by the provision which prescribes obligation of publishing changes and amendments on plans, calls for tender, decisions on the allocation of contracts, public procurements contracts on Public Procurement Directorate’s website. The level of transparency should be improved by publishing reports on the implementation of individual agreements, statistics on the number of canceled agreements, statistics on the number and reasons of giving prior approval for implementation of negotiation procedure in public procurement.

The Law should explicitly prescribe the reasons for giving prior approval for the implementation of the negotiated procedure, because this procedure is the least transparent.

We believe that it is necessary to specify all the persons through whom the bidder can make an influence on the public procurement procedures. The Law should specify the person who makes the decision as the person to whom anti-corruption rules and rules on conflict of interest are applied.

The public procurement officer should be appointed by an open competition procedure, because this is a specific position, with special authorities within the organs/institutions. The competencies of the Commission for opening and evaluation bids should be higher in deciding on allocation of the public procurement contracts. The Commission should make a draft of the final decision and not just a proposal

Technical elements, documentations, conditions for participations in the proceeding have not been simplified. Compared to the earlier version, the deadlines are extended only in part related to the urgency procedure from 15 to 20 days from the day of publication of the tender. In this regard, we believe that the deadlines should be further reviewed. Also the conditions for participation in the procedures should be simplified.

Finally, the provision which prescribes that the State Commission is appointed by the Government on the basis of a public announcement is not a good solution for the appointment of this body. We believe that the State Commission should be appointed by the Parliament. Accordingly, the Commission should submit regular annual report to the Parliament. Also, the members of State Commission should have specific experience related to public procurements. Their functions should be fully professionalized, and therefore it is necessary to clarify that the members of the State Commission should not perform any other public or professional function.

Milica Popović, M. Sc
Project Associate

Institute Alternative’s Project Associate Milica Popović has been a guest of TV show ,,Epilog” on TV ,,Vijesti”, discussing the topic of corruption in public procurement system in Montenegro. The show aired on 04/04/2011.

Latest research of Institute Alternative “Overseeing the budgets of local self-governments – constraints and opportunities”,was presented at the press conference on 01 April 2011.

The research was conducted in the framework of the project “Strengthening budget control at the local level”, supported by Canada Fund. Aiming to give an overview of existing mechanisms for budget control at the local level in Montenegro, this analysis entails a cross section of the legal framework and practices regarding planning, execution and revision of the budget in four selected Montenegrin municipalities: Nikšić, Danilovgrad, Podgorica and Herceg Novi.

Panelists were IA’s researchers Jovana Marović, Milica Popović and Marko Sošić.

Senate of the State Audit Institution (SAI) has been incomplete for a year now, comprising four out of the legally prescribed five members. Institute Alternative calls upon the Parliament and Administrative Committee, to place the appointing of a new member of the SAI’s Senate on the list of its short-term priorities.

Since a member of the SAI’s Senate Dušan Mrdović was appointed Ambassador of Montenegro to Macedonia in March 2010, his place has been vacant. Senate members are appointed and dismissed by the Parliament upon the proposal of the competent authority (Administrative Committee). Although the process for appointing a new member of the SAI’s Senate was initiated in June last year, there is still no indication that anything was done regarding this issue.

Member of the Senate is the head of one of SAI’s five sectors, a member of collegium and has a number of responsibilities related to SAI’s internal functioning, as well as monitoring of audit and accountability for its results. SAI’s overall human resources are still far from planned and systematized which makes the incomplete number of members of the Senate even more disturbing.

At the Institute Alternative we believe that the sole criterion that should influence the choice of a new member of the Senate is that of expertise. We call upon members of the Administrative Committee to ignore party and political acceptability criterion in this case. According to the law, once elected, a member of the Senate can not be a member of a political party or hold other public office.

Bearing in mind the current structure and legal norms that govern the selection and composition of the SAI’S Senate, it is necessary that a new member of the Senate DRI has a degree in law. Additionally, due to the low representation of women in managing positions within the SAI, we call upon members of the Committee to pay special attention to the principle of gender equality during the selection procedure.

First of all, however, it is imperative that MPs in the Parliament of Montenegro fully grasp the importance of SAI for political control of the budget and the fight against corruption and not permit the supreme organ of state audit to function with reduced capacity of its Senate. Therefore, we invite the Administrative Committee of the Parliament to continue the procedure of appointing a new member of the Senate DRI.

Marko Sošić
Project Associate