Towards a more effective use of the oversight mechanism of the Parliament
Ka efikasnijem korišćenju kontrolnih mehanizama Skupštine
Municipalities Are Breaking The Law While Contracting Goods
Irrational planning and frequent changes of plans, violations of provisions of the law, contracting goods and services without public insight, remain central problems of procurement at the local level.
In 2014, Montenegrin local governments have spent more than 10 million euro on public procurement. This amount doesn’t include data for Municipality of Bijelo Polje, considering the fact that this local government has not responded to the Institute alternative’s request for free access to information, sent three mounts ago.
A total of 13 municipalities have violated the legal norm for the use of direct agreement, especially Municipality of Andrijevica 90.98%, Municipality of Nikšić 46.24%, Municipality od Žabljak 31.88% and Municipality of Cetinje 22.61%. Even though this practice of overuse of direct agreement as the least transparent procedure is being repeated year after year and classified as a misdemeanor punishable by fine, Public Procurement Administration fails to keep records about it. It is not clear whether the municipality employees are taking responsibility for these violations. Public procurement officers we surveyed earlier this year warned that often they don’t have immediate access to all the direct contracts concluded, so they can’t keep records about it.
There was no progress towards a more realistic budget planning for public procurement in 2014. Municipalities, with the exception of Municipality of Kotor and Municipality of Podgorica, have been changing their plans during the year. The Municipality of Bijelo Polje has changed the public procurement plan most often, sixteen times, and Municipality of Bar has prepared seven amendments to the originally approved plan. All local governments had significant deviations between completed and planed budget for public procurement in 2014.
Public Procurement report, as we were informed by the municipalities, is publicly available and published exclusively on the website of the Capital City. In order to achieve higher level of transparency and prevent frequent violations of The Law on Public Procurement, it is necessary to publish direct agreements on the web sites of the contract authorities, in accordance with Article 138 of the Law on Local Self – Government. Furthermore, direct agreements should be published on the website of the Public Procurement Administration in electronically readable form, to enable grouping data.
Jovana MAROVIĆ
Research Coordinator
Full information about public procurement at the local level can be found here. (in Montenegrin only)
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.
Opštine ugovaraju robe i usluge mimo Zakona
Neracionalno planiranje i učestalo mijenjanje planova, kršenje odredbi zakona, ugovaranje roba i usluga bez uvida javnosti, ostaju centralni problemi nabavljanja na lokalnom nivou.
Crnogorske lokalne samouprave su u 2014. godini potrošile na javne nabavke više od 10 miliona eura. Cifra ne uključuje podatke za Bijelo Polje, budući da ova lokalna samouprava nije odgovorila na zahtjev Instituta alternativa ni nakon tri mjeseca.
Ukupno 13 opština se oglušilo o limit upotrebe direktne pogodbe. U tome su prednjačile opštine Andrijevica 90,98% Nikšić 46,24%, Žabljak 31,88%, Mojkovac 28% i Cetinje 22,61%. Iako se ovakva praksa upotrebe neposrednog sporazuma kao najmanje transparentne procedure ponavlja iz godine u godinu, te klasifikuje kao prekršaj za koji je predviđena novčana kazna, Uprava za javne nabavke ne vodi evidenciju o tome, i nejasno je da li lica u opštinama odgovaraju za ova kršenja. Službenici za javne nabavke koje smo anketirali početkom godine upozoravaju da često i nemaju uvid u sve neposredne sporazume i ne mogu da ih evidentiraju budući da se zaključuju mimo njih.
U 2014. godini nije bilo pomaka u pravcu realnijeg planiranja budžeta za javne nabavke. Opštine, s izuzetkom Kotora i Podgorice, su mijenjale svoje planove tokom godine. Najviše puta je plan javnih nabavki mijenjan u Opštini Bijelo Polje, čak šesnaest puta, dok je Baru pripremljeno sedam amandmana na prvobitno usvojen plan. Sve lokalne samouprave su imale značajna odstupanja u izvršenom u odnosu na planirani budžet za javne nabavke u prošloj godini.
Izvještaj o javnim nabavkama, kako su nas obavijestili opštine u odgovorima, je javno dostupan i objavljen isključivo na sajtu Glavnog grada. U pravcu veće transparentnosti, te sprečavanja učestalih kršenja Zakona o javnim nabavkama, neposredne sporazume je potrebno objavljivati na sajtu naručilaca, što bi bilo u skladu sa članom 138 Zakona o lokalnoj samoupravi. Takođe, godišnje izvještaje o javnim nabavkama treba objavljivati na sajtu naručilaca, ali i na portalu javnih nabavki u elektronski čitljivoj formi, kako bi se omogućilo grupisanje podataka.
Jovana MAROVIĆ
Koordinatorka istraživanja
Kompletnu informaciju o javnim nabavkama u 2014. godini na lokalnom nivou možete preuzeti ovdje.
Institut alternativa sprovodi projekat ”Civilno društvo i građani protiv korupcije u javnim nabavkama” uz podršku ambasade Kraljevine Holandije. Aktivnosti su usmjerene ka jačanju saradnje između državnih i nedržavnih aktera u zajedničkim naporima u utvrđivanju nepravilnosti u oblasti javni nabavki i formulisanju preporuka za unapređenje.
Reaction: Senior Managers Are Not Ministers’ “Personal Entourage”
Recent re-appointments of Director Generals and Secretaries from one Ministry to another, which followed the latest government reconstruction, pose a great danger to the professionalization of the Montenegrin civil service system.
Appointments of new government ministers and reappointment of the old ones were followed by turn-overs on the positions of Director Generals and Secretaries in the Ministries. This once again confirms findings of Insititute Alternative’s that neither expert and professional qualities and competences nor skills are considered to be the main recommendation during the appointment of the senior managerial staff in our administration.
For example, during the Government’s session, held on April 2nd, the decision on termination of the mandate of the Director General of the Directorate of Labour in the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare was brought, based on personal request. At the same session, the same person was re-appointed to the position of Acting Secretary of the Ministry of Education.
During the same meeting, the similar case was repeated because one more person was “moved” from the position of the Director General of the Directorate for Labour Market and Employment within the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare to the position of Acting Director General of the Directorate for Primary and Preschool Education and Education of Persons with Special Education Needs within the Ministry of Education.
We remind that, in the same period, Predrag Bošković, previously serving as the Minister of the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare, was appointed to the position of the Minister of Education.
These cases indicate that Montenegro lacks awareness on the need for specialized organizational units within each state body to be lead by experts in the field, and not necessarily by people who enjoy political confidence of ministers, who are primarily political appointees.
In particular, the previously described abuse of institute of resignation “on personal request” and of the institute of “Acting official” in our state administration, points out to the danger to completely render senseless the Law on Civil Servants and State Employees, which stipulates clear procedures for filling vacancies of senior managerial personnel – Directors General and Secretary in the ministries.
These procedures include announcement of an open call and qualification assessment by the special commission established by the Human Resources Management Authority, precisely because the Secretaries and Director Generals in ministries or, colloquially known as assistant ministers, are civil servants who should serve the public interest and not the interests certain political parties or political figures.
SIGMA, the joint initiative of the European Commission and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has warned, in its Principles of Public Administration, that these positions should represent the dividing line which separates the political appointees and professionalized civil servants.
IA has warned in its study “Professionalisation of Senior Civil Service in Montenegro: Between State and Politics” from December 2014 with the support of Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES), that “by the book” professionalized senior managerial staff and heads of state authorities are practically exposed to the political influence.
Milena MILOŠEVIĆ
Public Policy Researcher
Reagovanje: Visoki rukovodioci nijesu “lična svita” ministara
Institut alternativa smatra da “šetanje” generalnih direktora i sekretara iz jednog ministarstva u drugo, koje je pratilo najnoviju rekonstrukciju Vlade, predstavlja opasnost po profesionalizaciju crnogorskog službeničkog sistema.
Postavljenja novih ministara i premještaj starih pratile su i svojevrsne “rokade” na pozicijama generalnih direktora i sekretara u ministarstvima, što još jednom potvrđuje naše nalaze da radni i stručni kvaliteti, sposobnosti i posebne vještine nijesu glavna preporuka prilikom izbora visokog rukovodnog kadra u našoj upravi.
Primjera radi, na sjednici Vlade od 2. aprila ove godine, donijeta su rješenja o prestanku mandata generalnog direktora Direktorata za rad u Ministarstvu rada i socijalnog staranja na lični zahtjev i o određivanju iste osobe na poziciju v.d. sekretara Ministarstva prosvjete.
Na istoj sjednici ponovoljena je slična situacija jer je još jedna osoba premještena sa pozicije generalne direktorke Direktorata za tržište rada i zapošljavanje u Ministarstvu rada i socijalnog staranja na poziciju v.d. generalne direktorke Direktorata za predškolsko i osnovno obrazovanje i vaspitanje i vaspitanje i obrazovanje lica sa posebnim obrazovnim potrebama u Ministarstvu prosvjete.
Podsjetimo, Predrag Bošković, koji je prethodno zauzimao čelnu poziciju u Ministarstvu rada i socijalnog staranja, u tom periodu imenovan je za ministra prosvjete.
Ovi slučajevi su pokazatelj da u Crnoj Gori i dalje ne postoji svijest o potrebi da specijalizovane organizacione jedinice u okviru svakog državnog organa treba da vode ljudi od struke, a ne nužno osobe u koje ministri, koji su prvenstveno politički postavljene ličnosti, imaju političko povjerenje.
Naročito prethodno opisane zlouporebe ostavke “na lični zahtjev”, odnosno stanja “vršioca dužnosti” u našoj državnoj upravi, upućuju na opasnost obesmišljavanja Zakona o državnim službenicima i namještenicima, koji propisuje jasne procedure za popunu radnih mjesta visokog rukovodnog kadra, odnosno generalnih direktora i sekretara u ministarstvima.
Te procedure podrazumijevaju prethodno objavljivanje javnog konkursa i sprovođenje provjere sposobnosti od strane komisije koju formira Uprava za kadrove, upravo zbog toga što su sekretari i generalni direktori u ministarstvima, ili, kolokvijalno, pomoćnici ministara, državni službenici koji treba da služe javnom interesu a ne interesima pojedinih partija ili političkih ličnosti.
I SIGMA, zajednička inicijativa Evropske komisije i Organizacije za ekonomsku saradnju i razvoj (OECD), u svojim principima javne uprave, upozorila je da bi ova radna mjesta trebalo da predstavljaju gornju granicu koja razdvaja politička postavljenja od profesionalizovanih pozicija u državnoj upravi.
IA je ranije u svojoj studiji “Profesionalizacija rukovodnog kadra: Između države i politike”, objavljenoj u decembru 2014. godine uz podršku Fondacije Fridrih Ebert, upozorio da se, “na papiru” profesionalne pozicije visokog rukovodnog kadra i starješina organa, neformalnim praksama izlažu direktnom političkom uticaju.
Milena MILOŠEVIĆ
Istraživačica javnih politika