Posted on

Procurement in state administration in figures

In 2014, state authorities have spent 52 994 714, 56 euro. The Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism had the largest completed budget for public procurement in 2014 – 23 278 015, 51 euro and The Secretariat for Development Projects had the lowest one – 16 740,60 euro. The total amount of 14 state authorities have violated the percentage of use of direct agreement prescribed by the Law, led by the Directorate of Youth and Sports, which has used this procedure for all the procurement realised during last year. The following authorities have also realised the extremely high percentage of use of direct agreement: Institute for Hydrometeorology and Seismology (41,24%), Intellectual Property Office of Montenegro (35,48%), State Archives of Montenegro (34,15%), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (30,07%).

The problem of unrealistic planning of the public procurement budget is also ubiquitous in state authorities. According to the data presented in individual reports on public procurement, the completed budget of only three municipalities is in accordance with the planned budget for 2014 – Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare and Bureau of Metrology. Still, by examining the reports delivered by these institutions to the Institute alternative, i.e. by summing the amounts from the forms A, B and C which give an overview of the procurement realised by the open procedure, the shopping method and the direct agreement, we see that the total sum differs from the planned one. The total amount of sixteen state authorities has been changing the public procurement plan during the year. The Ministry of Finance has changed the public procurement plan nine times, of which the last change made has increased the budget for almost half of a million, even though that amount hasn’t been spent by the end of the year. The public procurement plans of two institutions are not even available – The Directorate of Youth and Sports and the Institute for Social and Child Protection.

***

The data on public procurement in state authorities in 2014 was gained on the basis of the request for free access to information sent to all state authorities obliged to apply the Law on Public Procurement, 33 of them. This information doesn’t include the data for the Directorate for Hydrocarbons, considering that we weren’t able to find the contact information of this newly established organ. Even three months after sending the request, The Ministry of Economy and the Ministry of Education have not delivered their annual reports on public procurement, violating in that way the Law on Free Access to Information. The Public Procurement Administration and The Statistical Office of Montenegro have made a resolution with incorrectly and incompletely established facts. Namely, from the Statistical Office we’ve been informed that the individual reports of the contracting authorities are available at the annual report on public procurement, which, according to the Law, should be published until the end of May, which doesn’t correspond with the facts and could be determined by examining the last years’ reports. The Public Procurement Administration in their response have also referred to the annual report on public procurement, even though it is obligated to prepare the individual report on conducted procurement, which is clear from the budget established for this institution in the Law on Budget of Montenegro for 2014. Also, during our research on the attitudes of the contracting authorities in January this year, we have been informed from the Commission for the Control of Public Procurement Procedures that the Public Procurement Administration manages procurement for them. Because of these resolutions and the silence of the administration, we have submitted the complaint against these four institutions to the Agency for Protection of Personal Data and Free Access to Information, but this body has not decided on them yet. The Ministry of Transport and Maritime Affairs has made the resolution approving the access to information, but even after costs payment, we still have not received the report.

Full information on public procurement in state authorities can be found here (only in Montenegrin).

The research is conducted within the project “Civil Society and Citizens against Corruption in Public Procurement”, which is implemented by the Institute Alternative with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Netherlands. The activities aim at strengthening the cooperation between state and non-state actors in the joint efforts in identifying irregularities in public procurement and formulating the recommendations for improvement.

Posted on

TV Show Replika

President of our Managing Board, Stevo Muk, was a guest in a TV Show “Replika”, airing on public broadcasting service.

The show was dedicated to the Law on the implementation of the Agreement on Free and Fair elections. The guests discussed the new composition of the Government, which now includes representatives of the opposition, the agreements for future appointments, as well as deadlines foreseen by the Law. They have presented their expectations regarding obstructions that could aggravate their work and control the abuse of state resources in election year.

Besides Stevo, the guests were:

  • Aleksandar Ražnatović, Positive Montenegro Party
  • Miloš Konatar, Civic Movement URA
  • Dragiša Janjušević, DEMOS

You can watch the TV Show in its entirety via link below:

Posted on

Press release: IA did the competent institutions’ job by publishing contracts on municipal debt reprogramming

Contracts on municipal debt reprogramming in Montenegro are not proactively published on the websites of the Ministry of Finance and local authorities; instead Institute Alternative had to pay in order to publish this important information on its website My town (Moj grad).

Institute Alternative received contracts on municipal debt reprogramming for 16 municipalities in Montenegro from 2015 via freedom of access to information requests.

Contracts, which were signed between the Ministry of Finance and 16 Montenegrin municipalities, define the conditions under which the debt for unpaid taxes and contributions on salaries of employees in local governments, including institutions and enterprises established by the municipality, will be reprogrammed.

The importance for these contracts to be available to public is stressed by their overall values of € 90 million. That would be in the spirit of the Law on Free Access to Information, that supports the proactive disclosure of information of public interest. However, contracts are only available via request.

This is not a unique case of insufficient transparency of information on the state of the local governments. We remind that the Institute Alternative initiated administrative proceedings against the Ministry of Finance in December last year, after we were illegally denied access to information on local finances, which were adopted by the Government in July 2015.
Municipalities that have signed a contract with the Ministry of Finance are: Danilovgrad, Budva, Pljevlja, Šavnik, Bijelo Polje, Nikšić, Mojkovac, Kolašin, Cetinje, Andrijevica, Bar, Berane, Rožaje, Plav, Ulcinj, Žabljak.

Nikšić Municipality should settle the highest debt of nearly € 18 million, while Andrijevica Municipality is obliged to settle the smallest debt, of approximately € 370 thousand.

Contracts determine the period of tax debt reprogramming. Most municipalities have two decades at their disposal, but this is not the case with coastal municipalities, Budva and Bar, where multimillion debts reprogramming has to be conducted in five years.

You can access the contracts on tax debt reprogramming, in general, on IA portal, My town (Moj grad).

IVANA BOGOJEVIĆ

Project Associate

Posted on

Press Release: Bill on Administrative Inspection finally in the Parliament

Institute Alternative welcomes putting on the Agenda of the Parliament of Montenegro the Bill on Administrative Inspection adopted by the Government in March 2015 and calls upon the MPs to improve the text of this law through amendment procedure.

Taking into account the importance of this regulation for the legality, efficiency and effectiveness of the work of public administration, as well as for improving the quality of life of citizens, we urge the Members of Parliament to improve the text of this law through amendments, especially in the part relating to regulation of the obligation of cooperation with other administrative inspection bodies and institutions, such as the State Audit Institution (SAI). Furthermore, we consider it necessary to prescribe mandatory contents of the records kept by the Administrative Inspection, but also rules governing communication between administrative inspectors and heads of the authorities under which the inspection is performed. In the end, it is necessary to regulate the handling of complaints, based on the comparative practice of the countries in the region.

One of the key preconditions for the lawful work of public administration is the effective operation of Administrative Inspection. Therefore, regulation of its operation under a separate law aims to improve the level of expertise and quality in dealing with administrative cases. Administrative Inspection supervises the implementation of regulations governing the work of state administration, the rights and obligations of civil servants and employees, administrative procedure, as well as the prohibition of discrimination.

For citizens and legal entities, reform of administrative procedure should bring simplification of procedures before administrative bodies, as well as an increase in the quality of public services. One of the novelties envisaged by the Bill on Administrative Inspection is the possibility for citizens and legal entities to submit an initiative to perform the inspection, in order to achieve protection against unlawful work of public administration bodies.

Consideration of the Bill on Administrative Inspection is planned for the Sixth Sitting of the First Ordinary Session of the Parliament of Montenegro, which will be held on Wednesday, 1 June 2016.

Milica MILONJIĆ
Public Policy Researcher

Related posts:

Posted on

What administration do we want by 2020: While waiting tangible results…

Instead of being at service of citizens and business, public administration is a burden to them – this is a message delivered by Institute Alternative at today’s conference in Podgorica.

The conference was organized within the project “Civil Society for Good Governance: To Act and Account” with the support of the European Union, in cooperation with partners, the Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro, and NGOs Bonum from Pljevlja, Natura from Kolasin and New Horizon from Ulcinj.

Stevo Muk, President of the Managing Board of the Institute Alternative (IA), commented on the current state of public administration, which, he said, except for being the linkage between decision makers and citizens, is the key sphere in which private and public interest entwine.

“Therefore, this is precisely overarching process for prevent abuse of public resources. Bearing in mind that this is an election year, this challenge is even more relevant,” he stressed.

“Administration – as we see it today,” Muk added , “is the administration characterized by weak competition for the key expert managerial positions. Also, there are many employees on positions requiring less work, and less people on positions with heavy workloads”.

Refik Bojadzic, Secretary General of the Association of Municipalities in Montenegro, emphasized that the Association is available to everyone as a partner in strengthening transparency of the administration and enforcing cooperation with the NGOs.

As he emphasized, in relation to the local communities, priority issues to be resolved until 2020 are under-regulated system of local civil service, reform of the communal activity, financing of local municipalities.

“Municipalities need institutional support. It is necessary to form the Ministry for local municipality or public administration’’, Bojadzic said.

It was emphasized at the conference that the changes in public administration are permanent, considering that reform has been in force from 2002.

Danijela Nedeljkovic-Vukcevic, head of the Direction for State Administration within the Ministry of Internal Affairs, referred to the work on the preparation of the 2016 – 2020 Draft Strategy for Public Administration Reform.

“This is the best strategy ever prepared,” she said, noting that some of the key issues requiring additional efforts are strengthening of administrative capacities, human resource planning, and enhancement of inter-institutional coordination.

Looking from the perspective of the institution, which influence is irreplaceable for the control of public finances, Branislav Radulović, member of the State Audit Institution Senate, emphasized the problem of the frequent changes in organizational structure of the administration.

These changes reflect negatively on the control of public administration authorities.

“There is no department, which is continuously the same,” he said, reminding that the public administration reform, as such, used to be under the Ministry of Justice, and then moved to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

He also pointed to the problem of authorities within the ministries, and reminded on the Article 28 of the Law on State Administration that defines this organizational units within Montenegrin administration.

“This Article states that authorities within the ministries are formed when the range and nature of their activities do not need special organization and independence in work’’, explained Radulovic, additionally highlighting the paradox that Tax Administration or Police Administration, the largest institution with 5000 employees, are considered as authorities within the ministries.

Suzana Radulovic, Secretary General of the Montenegrin Employers Federation, referred to the “Five Business Killers”, a publication this federation issued last year, which points to the good governance deficiencies in Montenegro, as major barriers to the business community.

These are, among other things, inadequate regulatory framework, corruption, and scarce responsibility of state and local authorities, and the problem of lack of expertise and professionalism.

She pointed to the lack of public consultation in policy making.

“The laws are being adopted, and we know nothing about that,” she said.

Timo Ligi, a senior adviser at the joint initiative of the European Commission and the OECD – SIGMA, reminded the participants of Montenegro’s initial results in measuring compliance with the European Principles of Public Administration. This principles were formulated in 2014, precisely in order to serve as a kind of framework for assessing readiness of countries (in this area), wishing to join the European Union (EU).

“Compared to other countries, Montenegro has received a good grade,” Ligi said.

However, the problems he pointed out included lack of evidence-based policy making and of appropriate impact assessment.

He also pointed to the problem of authorities within ministries, especially in terms of drawing the lines of accountability for these authorities.

Milena Milošević, public policy research at Institute alternative, said that some other systemic laws came before the long-awaited PAR Strategy, possibly endangering its key objectives.

According to her, the Law on public sector wages and proposed amendments to the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees and the Law on Local Self-Government, partially run against the overall objective of the reform, which is a service oriented and efficient administration, characterized by the growth of public confidence in its work.

“Therefore, the real question for the authorities, which I have asked previously, without getting convincing answer, is this – what do we want to accomplish with Public Administration Reform Strategy and what could we do if its implementation further demystifies systemic shortcoming we currently neglect”, she added.

Discussion of the participants at the conference also referred to the problem of large expenditures that citizens pay for the irresponsibility of the public administration authorities.

The recent report by the State Audit Institution pointed out at one of these problems, according to which more than 70 million euros in the period between 2012 and 2015 was spent on the basis of court rulings against the state, which are charged by force.

Below you can watch parts of our panelists’ speeches:

Posted on

MERLIN in Brussels – About the rule of law with the representatives of the EU

With the colleagues from the Belgrade Centre for Security Policy from Serbia and the European Policy Institute from Macedonia, we visited the EU institutions and talked to representatives of Brussels-based organizations and foundations dealing with the EU accession of the Western Balkans countries from 16 to 19 May 2016.

The visit was organized by the Open Society European Policy Institute and the European Fund for the Balkans. The event builds upon the project being implemented by the three organizations entitled “Monitoring and Evaluating the Rule of Law in the Western Balkans (MERLIN WB)”.

The meetings took place at the Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers (DG JUST) and the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR).

Besides with the representatives of the European Commission, we got together with the members of the Committee on EU enlargement of the Council of European Union (COELA), as well as with the European External Action Service (EEAS) representatives.

During the visit, the roundtable discussion “Rule of Law in the Western Balkans: Improving the conditionality mechanism of the chapters 23 and 24 of the EU enlargement negotiations” was held at the premises of the Open Society European Policy Institute. The event gathered experts from research centers, organizations and foundations which deal with issues related to the enlargement policy and the Western Balkans, as well as the guests from the European Parliament.

The topic of the meetings was the current situation in Montenegro, Serbia and Macedonia within the areas covered by the chapters 23 and 24. During the meetings with the EU representatives and the organizations which monitor Montenegrin accession process, we pointed out our observations on the problems related to the integrity of police, the work of the Special Prosecution for Organized Crime and Corruption, our objections on the commencement of the work of Agency for Prevention of Corruption, poor cooperation between the State Audit Institution and the prosecution, the latest trends in the public procurement system, poor control over the security and defense sector, as well as the current developments on the political scene, the transitional government and the control mechanisms which need to be established in order to prevent the misuse of public funds by the political parties.

The aim of the project MERLIN WB is the establishment of the regional coordination mechanism for democracy and the rule of law through the implementation of obligations under the chapters 23 and 24. The leading institution implementing the project is the European Policy Institute from Skopje, while the partners are Belgrade Centre for Security Policy, Institute Alternative and GONG from Croatia.