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Without an HR plan, There is no Precise Data on the Police Directorate’s Personnel

It has been a month since the 2024 budget was adopted, so the Ministry of the Interior and other state bodies should already have prepared HR plans for the current year. The HR plan is an important document as it provides an overview of the number of employees in the ministry, including the Police Directorate, planned hiring, and projections on the number of those retiring.

There has been much public discussion about the large number of police officers who will retire under favourable conditions, and how Montenegro will face a shortage of police personnel. However, precise data is not available in public documents, and the personnel plan, which should offer insight into such data, has not been prepared for three years. At the beginning of December, Institute Alternative called on the Ministry of the Interior to start preparing this document on time and fulfill its legal obligation.

On the other hand, we do not have precise data on the number of employees. The number of employees is not included in the Ministry’s annual reports, nor is it found in key strategic documents, such as the “Human Resources Management Strategy in the Police Directorate 2019-2024” and the “Police Directorate Development Strategy 2023-2026.”

To make an overview of employees over the past six years, we had to consult five different sources. According to available data, the number of employees in the Police Directorate has varied from year to year, with the highest number of employees recorded in 2021. However, it is not known which positions experienced an increase, and whether it involved police personnel or an increase in administration. The list of employees provided to Institute Alternative does not cover the total number of employees in certain organisational units of the MUP, as these are classified, meaning the actual number of employees is higher than stated in the table.

According to the internal organisation and systematisation regulations of the Ministry of the Interior and the Police Directorate, which are publicly available, the number of positions has increased year by year. However, even these regulations do not provide complete data, as information for certain organisational units of the Police Directorate is classified.

Data sources: Plan for increasing the number of police officers for 2018, personnel plans of the Ministry of the Interior and the Police Directorate for 2019 and 2020, European Commission’s Report for 2021, list of employees for 2022 and 2023 obtained through the right to free access to information, and the Government’s Information on the overview of the situation in the Ministry as of October 2023.

Organisational units for which the number of systematised positions is unknown: Department for Special Investigative Methods, Department for Witness Protection, Department for Criminal Intelligence, Group for Combating Arms and Explosives Smuggling and Crimes Against Other Goods Protected by International Law, Financial Intelligence Sector, and part of the Counterterrorism Unit.

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Flights of ministries below the radar: Direct procurement of airline tickets

Some ministries evade the obligation to initiate a public procurement procedure for airline tickets for official travels, even though they spend more than 5,000 euros annually on them. As a result, they directly and non-transparently transfer the money to travel agencies through direct agreements.

In 2022, the Ministry of Science and Technological Development allocated more than 11,000 euros for airline tickets without signing a contract, as required by the Law on Public Procurement. A similar situation was noted the previous year at the Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning, and Urbanism, which, without a procurement contract, paid the same agency 7,516 euros for airline tickets and accommodation based on four invoices in just one month.

The Law on Public Procurement allows for the possibility of a direct agreement or direct procurement, which can be concluded for amounts up to 5,000 euros, excluding VAT. As of January 2023, the amended law stipulates that this method can be implemented if the annual procurement value for the same purpose is up to 8,000 euros. Simple procurement of goods, services, and works through the direct selection of a specific supplier, with the acceptance of a proforma invoice/invoice, fiscal receipt, or contract, is not mandatory to conduct through the Montenegrin Electronic Public Procurement System (CEJN).

Invoices provided upon request for free access to information to the Institute Alternative indicate that some ministries have violated the Law on Public Procurement, and also divided the subject of public procurement of airline tickets, disregarding the annual procurement value estimation.

Although millions of euros are allocated annually for airfare costs at the level of the government, those procurement are not often the focus of special inspection controls by the Public Procurement Inspection and the State Audit Institution (SAI).

Procurement without tenders justifying with cyber attacks

In 2022, the Ministry of Science and Technological Development allocated more than 11,000 euros for airline tickets for official travel through direct negotiations with agencies, which later invoiced the expenses.

During October, November, and December 2022, the Ministry paid 6,759.76 euros to a tourist agency based on invoices, although it was obliged to conduct the procedure through the electronic system of public procurement. In response to the draft of the research, this Ministry explained that in the last quarter of that year, they continued the realisation of official trips in the same manner as in the June-September period. They also claim to have carried out only necessary trips, in a highly rational and economical manner.

The Ministry admits that they did not have a signed contract for the procurement of organising official trips in 2022. They claim that the reasons for not signing the contract are multiple – a cyber attack on the information infrastructure of the state administration in August of the previous year, budget rebalancing dates, as well as the fact that they were established only in May 2022, with a “very small amount allocated for official travel”.

In this Ministry, they claim to have individually requested bids for airline tickets and accommodation from several travel agencies for each trip, asserting that they selected the most cost-effective offers. However, they are not obligated to document this process, so we must take their word for it. Despite the Ministry’s claims, the report on direct simple procurement for this year indicates that only one bid was received for these procurement.

Similarly, the Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning, and Urbanism did not have a procurement contract for airline tickets in 2021. Through direct negotiation, this ministry spent 41,700 euros without VAT on airline tickets and hotel accommodation in 2021. In December 2021 alone, they paid 7,516 euros to one travel agency for airline tickets and accommodation, based on four invoices. By doing so, they violated the Law on Public Procurement, as they were required to conduct the procurement through the Montenegrin Electronic Public Procurement System (CEJN) before traveling. The inspection found that the Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning, and Urbanism committed a serious violation by dividing the subject of the public procurement, but no violation proceedings were initiated due to the passage of time.

“Upon reviewing the documentation and the Montenegrin Electronic Public Procurement System (CEJN), it was determined that for the mentioned services in 2021, no procurement procedure was conducted, and no contract was concluded. Instead, the services were realised through the direct acceptance of invoices, contrary to Article 27, paragraph 2 and Article 27, paragraph 3, and a violation of Article 211… However, due to the passage of time, no violation proceedings will be initiated,” stated the public procurement inspection resolution, initiated upon the initiative of the Institute Alternative.

According to the Law on Public Procurement, fines for this violation for legal entities range from 5,000 to 20,000 euros.

The Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning, and Urbanism confirmed that in 2021, during Minister Ratko Mitrović’s tenure, they did not have any contracts concluded based on which they invoiced the costs of airline tickets.

Through direct agreements, 90,000 euros were spent

Most ministries purchased airline tickets for official travel using the mechanism of direct agreements. Out of the 12 analysed ministries, eight procured airline tickets using this method instead of conducting the service through a simple procurement or framework agreement. Both procedures involve publishing calls on the CEJN website, allowing all eligible agencies to participate as bidders through a transparent procedure, and providing avenues for complaints if dissatisfied with the outcome.

During 2022, eight ministries spent over 90,000 euros through direct agreements on airline tickets.

The Ministry of Economic Development procured airline tickets from eight different agencies in the past year, totaling 43,000 euros, which is more than half of the total amount (85,147.45 euros) allocated for simple procurement below 5,000 euros.

The Ministry of Ecology, Spatial Planning, and Urbanism spent 15,000 euros on airline tickets, while the Ministry of Science and Technological Development spent close to 11,000 euros with three agencies. According to invoices, the Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare spent 10,000 euros, while the Ministry of Human and Minority Rights spent over 7,000 euros, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spent 5,000 euros.

 

 

Fines for dividing procurement subjects

During 2022, the Inspection for Public Procurement determined that in 11 cases, the subject of public procurement was divided to avoid the application of the Public Procurement Law and the issuance of an open procedure.

According to responses from the Administration for Inspection Affairs (AIA), 366 simple public procurement were inspected, including the division of the procurement subject to bypass transparent procedures. Twenty-three irregularities were found, nearly half of which involved the division of the procurement subject. As a result of these irregularities, the inspection imposed 18 fines totaling 25,050 euros and filed nine requests to initiate misdemeanor proceedings.

In the previous year, 361 simple procurement were inspected, and 36 irregularities were identified, 12 of which related to the division of the procurement subject. AIA stated that they imposed 32 fines by issuing misdemeanor orders totaling 52,800 euros.

This inspection also monitored the procurement of airline tickets, primarily focusing on the fact that contracting authorities do not keep records according to procurement subject descriptions due to the large number of procurement subjects and variations. It was observed that some government bodies procure airline tickets and hotel accommodation, while others only purchase airline tickets, and some seek services from travel agencies for official trips, and so on.

This investigative article was produced within the Project “Procurement under spotlight – Making Watchdogs Work!”, with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Serbia and Montenegro within the MATRA Rule of Law program. Project aims to empower and motivate watchdogs to combat corruption and undue influence in public procurement.

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IA meetings with prosecutors on corruption in public procurement

Institute Alternative (IA) held a series of closed meetings with representatives of the prosecution, where we discussed the issues and actions of the prosecution in cases related to corruption in public procurement.

Over the past months, we met with representatives of the Special State Prosecutor’s Office, and the basic state prosecutor’s offices in Podgorica and Herceg Novi, who have dealt with cases related to public procurement in their work.

In the closed meetings, we discussed the results achieved so far by the prosecution regarding criminal offenses related to public procurement, the current capacities for conducting investigations and training in this area, the process of conducting investigations, and cooperation with the police and other state bodies.

As a result, IA will prepare an overview of the results achieved so far by the prosecution in the fight against corruption in public procurement.

Meetings were organised as part of the project “Public Procurement Under Spotlight – Making Watchdogs Work!”, which we are implementing with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Serbia and Montenegro through the MATRA support program. The project aims to empower and motivate budget guardians to fight against corruption and inappropriate influences in public procurement.

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Establishing cooperation: IA meeting with Budget Inspection representatives

On January 26th, Institute Alternative held a meeting with representatives of the Budget Inspection in order to establish cooperation and gain a better understanding of their everyday work.

During the meeting, we discussed our findings regarding the work of the Budget Inspection, the process of planning supervision, and the development of the annual work programme.

We also discussed initiatives we addressed to the Budget inspection, the staffing capacity of the inspection for conducting supervision, as well as legal mechanisms available to inspectors in the fight against corruption.

The meeting was held within the Project “Procurement under spotlight – Making Watchdogs Work!”, which Institute Alternative conducts with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Serbia and Montenegro within the MATRA Rule of Law program. Project aims to empower and motivate watchdogs to combat corruption and undue influence in public procurement.

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To abandon hasty abolition of the Administration for Inspection Affairs

The Government’s intention to hastily abolish the Administration for Inspection Affairs is not based on adequate analyses, on exposé for the composition of the current Government and the Strategy for Public Administration Reform, and it can not be carried out without negative consequences within the stipulated short deadlines.

The information, which was discussed on January 16th, at the telephone session of the Government, with accompanying conclusions, suffers from numerous methodological flaws. They are mostly reflected in the fact that the Government does not even have the exact number of laws that need to be amended in order to decentralise inspections, although amendments are required by February 15.

In fact, the Government has largely copied the conclusions of the 2021 Analysis of the Efficiency of the Administration for Inspection Affairs, largely prepared during the Government of Dusko Markovic, which also suffers from numerous methodological shortcomings. First of all, the Analysis concluded that the centralisation of the inspection bodies into a single body, that began in 2011, was not effective and that the decentralised model enables a more efficient realisation of the responsibility of the inspection, i.e. the head of the inspection body, and also a more transparent realisation of the political responsibility of the line minister for the situation in one area.

However, this Analysis, as well as the recent Information of the Government, did not deal at all with the work of inspections that already operate within the relevant ministries, such as the Urban Planning and Construction Inspectorate or Administrative Inspectorate. In other words, the Government assumed the superiority of the decentralised model, without analysing the efficiency of the inspections that are already functioning within the line ministries. We believe that the conclusions would be significantly different if the effects of the inspections within the ministries were analysed according to the same criteria, both in terms of transparency and political responsibility.

Additionally, such a major decision is made without prior announcement in the exposé of the current prime minister, and it is impossible to implement it with the full participation of the public and interested parties, including the inspectors themselves, within a period of less than a month. Also, the Strategy for the Reform of Public Administration, which is being implemented, foresees the strengthening of the role and capacity of the Administration for Inspection Affairs, through the improvement of the normative framework, personnel capacities and the binding of registers necessary for the proactive operation of inspection supervision, rather than its abolition.

All this speaks of the absence of a strategic and grounded approach to such an important decision. Unfortunately, experience taught us that opening such a major issue in a short period of time can negatively disrupt the performance of inspection supervision and create new excuses for the lack of transparency and results, through opening of new procedures for reorganisation, taking over employees, providing accommodation facilities and access to IT infrastructure.

Milena Muk
Institute Alternative

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Direct Procurement Under Spotlight of State Audit Institution

The State Audit Institution (DRI) adopts the proposal of Institute Alternative and initiates an audit of simple procurements through direct agreement.

The State Audit Institution (DRI) has adopted one of our proposals and included the audit of the section “Simple procurements through direct agreement” in the DRI’s Annual Audit Plan for 2024. By proposing this topic, based on previous analyses, Institute Alternative pointed out the misuse of public procurements through the direct selection of specific suppliers.

The DRI stated that this audit was assessed as a priority and officially launched under the title “Audit of the regularity of simple procurement procedures conducted by multiple public sector audit subjects for 2023.”

They further explained that the audit subjects have been informed about the commencement of the audit, and these include: the Ministry of Capital Investments, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Urbanism, and State Property, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Secretariat of the Government of Montenegro, the Regional Diving Centre for Underwater Demining and Diver Training, the Railway Directorate, the State Archives, the National Tourism Organisation, and the municipalities of Berane, Mojkovac, Kotor, and Ulcinj.

Through a series of investigative texts, Institute Alternative has highlighted how this mechanism was misused by ministries, municipalities, and public companies:

Direct and without competition – Procurement in public enterprises

Direct and without control – Simple procurement up to 5000 EUR

Direct procurements under scrutiny

We investigate this area within the Project “Procurement under spotlight – Making Watchdogs Work!”, with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Serbia and Montenegro within the MATRA Rule of Law program. Project aims to empower and motivate watchdogs to combat corruption and undue influence in public procurement.