Republic of Montenegro: Public Expenditure and ... - Vlada Crne Gore

66 Chapter 4: Public Financial Management and Procurement
4.35 The law has several strengths, including:(i) a clear definition of the responsibilities and
activities of the administrative body for public procurement (Articles 16 and 17); (ii) a clear
definition of the types of procedures, with open procedure as the main method of procurement
(Article 19); (iii) specifying the conditions for restricted procedures with prequalification
(Article 20); (iv) for publication on the website of the contract award notice (Article 34); (v) for
joint and several liability in case of joint tender (Article 52); (vi) for public opening of tender
immediately after the deadline for receipt—latest within one hour (Article 65); and (vii) for legal
protection of tenderers through a complaints review mechanism (Article 79-95). Anti-corruption
and conflict of interest rules are also introduced in the new draft PPL.
4.36 Two areas where further improvements to the law may be needed: (i) evaluation
criteria—This is currently based on a point system rather than on a monetarily quantifiable
criteria (Article 63 and 64); (ii) selection of consultants-- No definition is available in Article 4,
but the issue seems to be dealt with in Article 74 without fully describing how the final selection
shall be made. Further, Annex I on Services does not distinguish between maintenance and repair
services and services of intellectual nature. The law does not have features of dynamic
purchasing system or electronic auction (only electronic means are defined in Article 4). In
addition, once the new PPL is adopted, all supplementary regulations, rules and procedures, and
standard bidding documents and forms should also be revised and adopted.
Procurement Procedures and Practices
4.37 The Public Procurement Commission was established in September 2001, and
comprises of the President, the Secretary General, and two members. The main functions of
the PPC include: review and resolution of bidders’ complaints, tender announcement,
coordination of preparation of the new PPL, regulations and standard bidding documents, public
procurement networking and contacts with other public procurement agencies, and organization
of trainings for public procurement officers (currently about 603 offices are subject to the PPL).
4.38 According to the new law, the PPC will be transformed into a Commission dealing
with bidders’ complaints. The PPC currently has three staff, and carries various activities
including tender publishing, providing oversight to procurement officers at line ministries, and
receiving bidder complaints. For those cases which were accepted, tender/ evaluations were redone.
Both the establishment of the PPAA and strengthening of the PPC would require proper
staffing, capacity building, and the strengthening of their institutional infrastructure.
4.39 The new procurement law envisions the creation of a separate Public Procurement
Administrative Authority (PPAA), which will be in charge of the administrative functions
of public procurement. The PPAA will have several administrative functions, including
preparation of regulations and standard bidding documents, prior reviews and approvals,
publishing advertisements, collecting data and maintaining database, e-procurement, liaison with
the Supreme Auditing Institution, and liaison with other public procurement agencies.
Strengthening the Control Environment
4.40 A strengthened control environment for public procurement requires that there be
effective internal and external audits (see below). To that end, strengthening the internal audit