BRATISLAVA, February 24, (WEBNOVINY) — The Justice Ministry has commenced works on an amendment to the public procurement law, which is to secure more transparent, effective and thrifty public procurement in Slovakia. “Ministries and state institutions spent EUR 5.2 billion on public procurement in 2009, which was more than 8 percent of GDP and so-called sector procurers spent an additional 3.8 billion euros,“ Minister of Justice Lucia Zitnanska said after working breakfast organized by a public procurement group of the American Chamber of Commerce in Slovakia (AmCham).
The minister underscored that well-functioning public procurement has a substantial impact on the healthy economy of Slovakia. The piece of legislation is expected to be completed this year. The discussion on the amendment is currently only starting and businessmen, the third sector, the American Chamber of Commerce as well as other groups have already expressed interest in taking part.
Zitnanska pointed out that the current control system in Slovakia is rather poor while sanctions for violation of law are incorrectly set. Moreover an economic analysis should be prepared prior to any public procurement of whether the state needs what it purchases. The second serious problem that Zitnanska sees in connection with public procurement is its specification. She said that about 2.75 applicants enroll for public tenders in Slovakia on average. “This means that there is something wrong and specified criteria often suit only one bidder,“ she concluded.
AmCham representative Zuzana Simekova appraised that the ministry is listening to the business sector. She underscored that both sides have identical opinions regarding the main theses and principles. However, both the ministry and AmCham expect fierce discussions on details of the final wording of the draft. AmCham has drafted a list of recommendations for the reform of the legislative framework of public procurement in Slovakia.
SITA