<p><span style="font-size: small;">SKOPJE, 17 October 2014 – Today, the Centre for Civil Communications published the results from its regular monitoring of public procurements implemented by local authorities for the period October 2013 - March 2014. Key findings include:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">- Once “lowest price” was introduced as the single criterion on awarding public procurement contracts, and e-auctions are mandated for all tender procedures, there are numerous examples of tender procedures that have attained extremely low prices whereby the quality of the execution of the contact is questioned.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">- Transparency remains one of the major problems affecting public procurements in the country. Some state institutions either do not publish tender data or publish them late, while others do not disclose information requested by means of FOI applications.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">- Several months (October-December 2013) before legal provisions on mandatory publication of tender documents enter in effect (from January 2014), including legal provisions whereby defining eligibility criteria for tender participation becomes difficult and liable to sanctions (from May 2014), 45% of tender procedures monitored have not published their relevant tender documents, while as high as 60% of them included high eligibility criteria for tender participation.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">- Tender annulments continue to create problems in the field of public procurements. In this monitoring period as well, the share of annulled tender procedures ranges around the average of 15% calculated for local level public procurements.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">- Deadline on selection decision-taking is complied with, but signing of procurement contracts is postponed.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">The Report is available <a href="images/stories/ml4e.pdf">here</a>. For more information, please contact the Centre for Civil Communications on tel. (02) 3213-513 or by e-mail: <a href="mailto:center@ccc.org.mk">center@ccc.org.mk</a>.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">NOTE TO THE EDITORS:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;">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.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: small;"> Since 1993, the American people, through the USAID, have invested over 500 million USD in Macedonia. USAID is working with the people of Macedonia to create jobs, strengthen democratic institutions and practices, enhance integrated education, and prepare students for the labour market. These initiatives improve the quality of life and support Macedonia’s transition into a stable and prosperous democracy. USAID provides economic and humanitarian assistance in more than 100 countries worldwide. For more information see: macedonia.usaid.gov or follow USAID Macedonia on Facebook: <a href="http://www.facebook.com/USAIDMacedonia">www.facebook.com/USAIDMacedonia</a>.</span></p>