<p><strong>Public procurement monitoring in the country shows a series of weaknesses that indicate previous arrangements between institutions and bidders. <br /></strong></p>
<p>Today, December 27, 2021, the Center for Civil Communications (CCC) published the <a href="images/stories/36en.pdf" target="_blank">Report from the regular monitoring of public procurement conducted in the period from January to June 2021</a>.<br />Key monitoring findings include:<br />- Although optional, the electronic auction was applied in 91% of public procurement, which indicates that the e-auction is used as a mechanism for malpractice and corruption.<br />- The frequent coincidence of the value of the submitted bids with the estimated value of the tenders, which has not been made public, indicates prior agreement between the institutions and the bidders.<br />- There are examples of unequal treatment of bidders, as well as cases of restriction of competition.<br />- Every fourth tender was presented with one bid or no bids. <br />- The annulment of the tenders remains extremely high and amounts to 26%.<br />- In the first half of 2021, through a non-transparent negotiated procedure without publishing a tender notice, contracts worth 7.9 million euros were concluded.<br />- These weaknesses are present in the tenders conducted by the institutions at both national and local level.<br />The annual program of the Center for Civil Communications is supported by the Civica Mobilitas program, a project of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), implemented by NIPRAS Denmark, the Macedonian Center for International Cooperation (MCIC) and FCG Swedish Development AB (FCS Sweden).</p>