BRATISLAVA, February 11, (WEBNOVINY) – Electronic auctions in public procurement will be obligatory, based on a revision to the Public Procurement Act approved by MPs on Friday. E-auctions will have to be used in case of above-limit orders and as of January 1, 2012 also with sublimit contracts. The authors of the revision aim at thriftier spending of public funds, which should be secured by tougher terms for public procurement, higher transparency of the process and restricted room for corruption and cronyism.
E-auctions will be obligatory with supplies of goods and also in case of provision of services and construction works if it is possible to set out technical requirements exactly. Procurers will not be obliged to open e-auctions for sublimit orders but they will have to publish quarterly reports on contracts of low value exceeding EUR 1,000.
Evaluation of bids by a commission is to become public, except for confidential information, business secret and confidential aspects of bids. The commission will not be allowed to expel an extremely low price bid without rationale. The deadline for bid submission must not be shorter than 20 days of the date when procurer sends the call to the Public Procurement Office.
The chairman of the Public Procurement Office (UVO) will be elected and dismissed by parliament upon the proposal of the Cabinet. Until now, the post has been filled in by the government. The latest change arises from the passed amending proposal of SDKU-DS deputy Ondrej Matej to the Public Procurement Act revision adding another reason to sack the UVO boss – a failure to meet the office’s tasks in compliance with the law. Opposition SMER-SD is dissatisfied with both changes. Party leader Robert Fico said in reaction that the new rules allow for dismissal of UVO head on political grounds. The novelty will disturb the fragile political balance and infringe the agreement that grants the post in question to the opposition, he argued.
The new rules and the revision to the Public Procurement Act will take effect on April 1, 2011, if President Ivan Gasparovic seals the norm.
The vote on the public procurement revision was the last point on the agenda of the 14th parliamentary session. MOST-HID chief Bela Bugar, who led the session, closed it after the voting. Deputies convene next time on March 22 when a new session starts.
SITA