The government is set to make a "revolution" in public procurement with a bill, now presented for comment to other ministries, introducing transparency, speeding up the process and reducing bureaucracy, Prime Minister Igor Matovic (OLaNO) announced at a press conference on Tuesday.
Under the new law, the time frame for public procurement worth more than €20 million should be shortened from 695 days to 275 days. Transparency should be boosted by the introduction of a system of references, while the process of handling objections by individual bidders should be simplified.
Deputy Prime Minister for Legislation Stefan Holy (We Are Family), who was tasked to draw up the bill expected to enter into force in August 2021, didn't respond directly to a journalist's question as to whether he had consulted it with the Public Procurement Office (UVO). He said that it's a government bill and the UVO can present its comments as part of the public discussion. Meanwhile, UVO chairman Miroslav Hlivak complained that the legislation was prepared without the UVO being consulted.
