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.
