<p>SKOPJE, December 31, 2015 – Today, the Centre for Civil Communications published the results from its regular monitoring of public procurements implemented by local authorities for the period October 2014 – March 2015. Key findings include:</p>
<p>-          Low competition in local tender procedures continues to decline despite the series of law amendments adopted in this period and aimed to turn around such tendencies, thereby increasing the number of participants in public procurement procedures. In average, public procurements from the monitoring sample were marked by participation of 2.4 bidding companies, while as high as 57% of tender procedures monitored were not presented with a single bid or were presented with only one bid.</p>
<p>-          Although they are law-mandated for all tender procedures, e-auctions were organized in only 53% of monitored procurement procedures. Low competition in tender procedures and “lowest price” defined as the single criterion for contract awarding would continue to deepen the problem related to non-organization of electronic auctions, envisaged as means for reduction of initially bided prices.</p>
<p>-          The number of annulled tender procedures in the monitoring sample maintained its high share of 20% and was marked by an increase compared to tendencies observed in the past one to two years, when it amounted to around 15%. The main reason indicated for tender annulment remains the statement that bidding companies have offered prices that are more unfavourable than those anticipated or planned by the contracting authority.</p>
<p>-          Inadequacy of “lowest price” defined as the only contract-awarding criterion is the biggest problem faced by companies participating in tender procedures organized and implemented on local level. More than half of companies surveyed are also facing the problem of late payment for public procurement contract performance.</p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12.16px; line-height: 1.3em;">This Report is available </span><a href="images/stories/le7.pdf" target="_blank" style="font-size: 12.16px; line-height: 1.3em;">here</a><span style="font-size: 12.16px; line-height: 1.3em;">. For more information, please contact the Centre for Civil Communications on tel. (02) 3213-513 or by e-mail: </span><a href="mailto:center@ccc.org.mk" style="font-size: 12.16px; line-height: 1.3em;">center@ccc.org.mk</a><span style="font-size: 12.16px; line-height: 1.3em;">.</span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #000000;"><em>USAID Civil Society Project is implemented by the Foundation Open Society – Macedonia (FOSM) in partnership with the Centre for Civil Communications, the Youth Educational Forum, Reactor – Research in Action, and Forum – Centre for Strategic Research and Documentation. </em></span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #000000;"><strong><em>NOTE TO THE EDITORS:</em></strong></span></p>
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<p><span style="color: #000000;"><em>The American people, through USAID, have invested over $500 million in Macedonia since 1993. USAID works with the people of Macedonia to create jobs, strengthen democratic institutions and practices, enhance integrated education, and prepare students for the workforce. These initiatives improve the quality of life and support Macedonia’s transition to a stable and prosperous democracy. USAID provides economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 100 countries. For more information please visit </em><a href="http://www.usaid.gov/where-we-work/europe-and-eurasia/macedonia" target="_blank"><em>USAID Macedonia Website</em></a><em> and </em><a href="http://www.facebook.com/USAIDMacedonia" target="_blank"><em>USAID Macedonia Facebook</em></a><em><span style="text-decoration: underline;"> </span>page. </em></span></p>