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(Non)Centralised Procurement in Montenegro: The Beginning of a Long Road

The obligation to consolidate the procurement of ten goods and services was introduced in the Montenegrin public procurement system in January 2018, with the commencement of implementation of the Decree on Centralisation of Public Procurement of Goods and Services. However, centralisation is still not sufficiently established in the Montenegrin public procurement system.

There are numerous problems; there is also room for improvement, particularly in terms of transparent spending on centralised procurement. Planning and reporting on such procurements are largely decentralised, and the multitude of data hinders access to reliable and detailed figures on centralised spending.

The Property Administration, which is responsible for implementation of centralised procurement, compensated for the delays by launching urgent procurement and shortening the tender submission deadlines, contrary to the Law.

Centralised procurement is not planned sufficiently thoroughly and timely, which causes problems in practice and leaves the administration without some of the essential tools for its work and operation. The procurement of some items that are constantly needed poses a particular problem, as they get delayed due to the untimely actions of the Property Administration and the institutions responsible for the remedies to bidders.

This analysis presents the course of the 18-month process of centralisation of public procurement to date and includes recommendations for improvement which stem from the trials and errors experienced in that process.

For the procurement centralisation to bring about key effects of centralisation, such as enhanced administrative efficiency, professionalism and capacities, security and simplicity, as well as savings and better prices for large-scale procurement, the Property Administration and the concerned contracting authorities need to plan such procurement better and enable a single procurement procedure to provide the maximum quantity of the same or similar items for the state administration. It is of particular importance to improve the transparency of this segment of public spending and enable the interested public to monitor the details concerning the spending on centralised procurement.

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You4EU Debate in Zagreb

The international conference “Technology for Transparency and Citizen Participation” was held on Friday, September 27th in Zagreb.  The conference was organised within the project “YOU4EU – Citizen Participation 2.0”, that Institute Alternative implements with the partners.

In the introductory part,  the You4EU project and and the publication “50 Questions from YOU to the EU” were presented. This publication is consisted of citizen’s questions and answers from institutions on actual topics that are important to citizens, as well as regarding European Union.

Afterwards, the award ceremony for the winners of the best digital solutions, which encourage citizen engagement and enable better communication of citizens and decision-makers, was held. CIECODE from Spain won 2,000 Euros for the completion of their solution “Personal Political Analyst”. Also, solution of the NGO Active Zone from Montenegro, called “Fix my city” was presented together with Pin’em and Izbori_se (Croatia), Parlamento 2030 (Spain), Easy local budget (Serbia), as  five top ideas for competition.

Within the panel discussion “Technology for Transparency and Citizen Participation”,  many digital experts discussed open data, the right to access information of public importance, and the use of technology in increasing civic participation.

Panelists for discussion were Helen Darbishire ( Access Info Europe), Bojan Perkov (SHARE Foundation), Mia Biberović (Netocracy), Nikola Ljubešić (Institute Jozef Stefan) and Belen Aguero (CIECODE) who highlighted the main challenges they face in their work.

The panel discussion was followed by an expert forum where participants discussed policy recommendations aimed at increasing transparency, better communication with decision-makers and greater citizen participation in public space through use of digital technologies. The participants agreed on the key role of civil society organisations in improving communication between citizens and government, as well as better understanding of the impact of modern technologies on democratic processes.

Participants on this conference from Montenegro were Milka Tadić Mijović (Center for Investigative Journalism), Miloš Marković (Center for Development of NGOs), Milena Stanojević (NGO Active zone), and Ana Đurnić and Dragana Jaćimović as representatives of the Institute Alternative.

The next debate within the YOU4EU project takes place in Ljubljana on October 22nd, 2019 and will be dedicated to citizen participation in environmental issues. After that, debates will be held in Podgorica and Belgrade.

 

The conference was organised within the project “YOU4EU – Citizen Participation 2.0”, which is implemented by Institute Alternative in cooperation with partners from Serbia (Belgrade Open School), Croatia (Gong), Slovenia (PiNA) and Spain (Access Info Europe) with the support of European Union within the Europe for Citizens Program.

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Dina Bajramspahić in TV show ‘’Načisto’’ broadcasted on TV Vijesti

In an ocean of insolent, arbitrary and ignorant decisions, the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information prepared by the Ministry of Public Administration especially stood out, which was quite difficult in the Montenegrin public life.

Reading in disbelief from one article to another, we who have been working in this area for a long time could not believe that they ventured into such despotism. Almost all new articles of the Law are enabling public administration not to allow access to information. There are plenty of legal basis for refusal, plenty of basis for the interpretations whether the citizen has right to seek what he seeks, which motives and aims he has and whether it is or it is not useful what he seeks. Out of the 30 articles of the draft Law, we express our strongest opposition to as many as 26 proposed articles.

More on this issue you can check out in TV show ‘’Načisto’’ which was broadcasted on TV ‘’Vijesti’’.

Guests in the TV show were: Dina Bajramspahić (Institute Alternative), Danijela Nedeljković Vukčević (Ministry of Public Administration), Nikola Marković (daily newspaper ‘’Dan’’) and Biljana Božić (Agency for Personal Data Protection and Free Access to Information).

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Open letter from 44 NGOs ahead of the International Day for Universal Access to Information

In the eve of International Day for Universal Access to Information, 44 NGOs signed an open letter to the Prime Minister of Montenegro and the Minister of Public Administration, requesting that they abandon the proposed amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information that introduce new restrictions and drastically reduce the transparency of institutions, contrary to international standards.

We demand that the Government and the Ministry of Public Administration abandon the proposed amendments to the Law on Free Access to Information, which introduce new restrictions and drastically reduce the transparency of institutions, contrary to international standards.

Instead of advancing the current law, the Government proposes worse solutions that undermine the fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution of Montenegro and international conventions.

The proposed amendments introduce the so-called abuse of the right of access to information, and gives the institutions huge discretionary power to refuse to publish information of public importance without any criteria. According to the Draft, requests can be rejected because they are “unreasonable” or there are too many of them, or for any other reason when they are contrary to the aim and purpose of the law, which are not defined by any article.

In addition, the Government is also drastically narrowing the term information, again leaving it to the discretion of state authorities to arbitrarily assess whether or not an information is of public importance. This provision seriously undermines the complete system of access to information and is in direct contradiction with international standards, which clearly indicate that the right of access to information applies to all data held by institutions.

Also, the number of reporting entities of this law is decreasing, so the Government proposes that political parties that are predominantly financed from the state budget be exempted from the application of this law.

Bearing in mind the widespread political corruption, in the eve of the election year, such amendments to the law would make it impossible to control huge cash flows, and would further erode the already low trust of citizens in elections.

The amendments to the law completely exclude the intelligence and security sector, as well as any information that is shared with international bodies or third countries that the government decides is confidential. In this way, citizens are deprived of the opportunity to check before the court whether the information has been lawfully declared confidential.

In addition, it is envisaged that the right of access to information may also be denied when other laws provide that some information is secret. This decision is also contrary to international standards, which do not allow unlimited reasons for exceptions, but only those which are requested and necessary in democratic societies. The Council of Europe, whose member state is Montenegro, has a well-defined list of exceptions that is much narrower than the Government’s proposal.

Although the misuse of trade secrets that institutions refer to when hiding information of public importance is widespread, as indicated by the European Commission, the Government has not even attempted to define that term. In this area, too, there are clear international standards that the Government has failed to apply. Instead, it has left the institutions to interpret themselves what are trade secrets that are not prescribed by any current law. The draft reduces the obligation of institutions to proactively publish information online, although the Government’s official commitment is to make as much information available on websites as possible, in order to reduce the number of requests for information. If the Government adopts this decision, institutions will no longer have to publish public registers, expert opinions on laws, or data on additional incomes of public officials.

For all these reasons, we believe that the envisaged amendments are contrary to international standards and represent a direct threat to the work of civil society and the media, allowing huge space for corruption and illegal hiding of information of public importance.

We urge the Government to withdraw proposals from the Draft Amendments to the Law and, in full cooperation with experts, NGOs and the media, to define solutions that will enable the exercise of a fundamental human right to access information, in accordance with the Constitution and international conventions.

Below is a list of NGOs and representatives of Montenegrin media that have signed the open letter:

  1. Network for Affirmation of NGO Sector – MANS
  2. NGO Human Rights Action – HRA
  3. NGO Institute Alternative – IA
  4. NGO The Centre for Monitoring and Research – CEMI
  5. NGO Center for Democratic Transition – CDT
  6. Center for Investigative Journalism of Montenegro – CIN-CG
  7. NGO 35 mm
  8. Association of Professional Journalists of Montenegro
  9. NGO Centre for Democracy and Human Rights – CEDEM
  10. NGO Center for Civil Liberties – CEGAS
  11. Politikon Network
  12. Environmental Movement OZON
  13. NGO Center for Protection and Research of Birds – CZIP
  14. NGO Green home
  15. NGO Expeditio
  16. Organisation KOD
  17. NGO Media Centre
  18. NGO Women’s Rights Center – CŽP
  19. NGO Women’s Safe House – SŽK
  20. NGO Association of Youth with Disabilities of Montenegro – UMHCG
  21. Association of Paraplegics of Montenegro
  22. NGO Montenegrin Ecologists Society
  23. NGO Breznica
  24. Durmitor Development Centre
  25. MJSJA – Dr. Martin Schneider – Jacoby Association
  26. NGO Eco Team
  27. NGO Anima
  28. NGO Workers from Bankrupt Companies in Montenegro
  29. Foundation “HELP – Action for North of Montenegro”
  30. NGO Institute for Business and Financial Literacy
  31. Hand of Friendship Foundation
  32. NGO Our Action
  33. NGO Multimedial Montenegro – Mmne
  34. NGO Hand to Hand
  35. NGO Association for implementation of rights – UZIP
  36. NGO Brain
  37. NGO Viva vita
  38. NGO Circle of Life
  39. NGO Hope
  40. NGO Center for Entrepreneurship
  41. Network for education and development of support services for persons with disabilities – MERSP
  42. NGO Media team
  43. NGO Network for Change
  44. Trade Union of Montenegrin Physicians
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Anti – Corruption Agency’s Council to open its door for the NGOs

We submitted the initiative to the Council of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption to enable NGO representatives to monitor its sessions without obligation to participate. We also urged the Council to publish its working materials before sessions, rather than after, as is does now.

Amendments to the Rules of Procedure of the Council, adopted in May 2016, practically closed the door for the NGO representatives to monitor Council’s sessions. The Council’s rationale back then, was that NGO representatives are not contributing to the Council’s work by solely monitoring the sessions. Thus, the Council decided that NGO representatives can participate in the sessions, but only if prior to the session they submit in writing what they want to discuss, and only then will the Council’s members decide whether to allow participation or not.

Thus, we urged the new Agency’s Council members to initiate and adopt Amendments to the Rules of Procedure in order to enable independent and objective monitoring of the work of both the Agency and the Council, as well as NGO research activities. It is necessary that the Agency’s Council enables NGO representatives to monitor its sessions, without obliging them to participate, as it was the case in 2015. Back then, all sessions, except for one, were open for public and NGO representatives were allowed to continuously monitor the sessions.

Existing provisions of the Rules of Procedure, however, completely prevent even the participation of NGOs in the Council’s session. These provisions prescribe the obligation for the NGO to file a request for the participation of its representative in the Council’s session. The request must, inter alia, include the number of the session and the agenda item within which the NGO representative wishes to participate. The request also must include a document containing proposals, suggestions and/or comments on the agenda item within which the NGO representative wishes to participate.

However, even such already limited and controlled participation is completely disabled by the Council’s practice not to publish materials for the sessions in advance, but only after adoption when it is no longer possible in any way to influence their content. The possibility of participating in the Council’s sessions solely exists in paper, but is completely inapplicable.

This is why all the materials for all future Council’s sessions should be published in advance, to allow the interested public to participate in the Council’s work and provide their expertise on the documents discussed and adopted by the Council.

As prescribed by the Rules of Procedure, non-governmental organisation is required to submit request for participating in the Council’s session no latter that 24 hours before beginning of the session. The materials, then, should be published at least three to five days before the session.

We submitted the initiative to the Council of the Agency for Prevention of Corruption on 26th September 2019.

Institute Alternative Team

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50 Questions from YOU to the EU

Citizen participation is one of the key elements in the establishment and development of modern society and its political, economic and social systems representing the interests of all citizens, social groups and society as a whole.

In order to find the best practice examples across three EU Member States and two accession countries on modalities of citizen participation in decision-making, as well as to find ways to support increased participation and answer the biggest challenges and perspectives at the local, national or EU level, European research has been conducted in Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia and Spain.

This publication provides an overview of 50 key citizens’ questions about important political, economic and social processes which should be highly positioned on the national and the EU agenda, together with the answers of targeted decision-makers.

The total of 288 citizens took part in the social media campaign in all five partnering countries and left 367 comments and questions on the following topics: Good governance, EU accession process, Environmental protection, Freedom of media, Fake news, Personal data protection, EU funds, etc.

An integral part of publication are the conclusions we have reached, both in the phase of social network campaign and in the phase of gathering answers from decision makers. The general recommendations for improving citizens’ communication with decision – makers are also given, as well as recommendations for increasing citizen participation in decision- making process.

The authors of the publication are Institute Alternative (Montenegro), Belgrade Open School (Serbia), PINA (Slovenia), GONG (Croatia) and Access Info Europe (Spain).