Parliament Passes Amendment to Public Procurement Act

Only those companies that will reveal their ownership structure will be able to take part in public tenders - says the Public Procurement Act amendment that was approved by Parliament on Wednesday in a fast-tracked procedure. The companies competing in public tenders must meet a number of challenging criteria and therefore cannot be garage firms. Bidders that submit false information in public tenders about their ownership structure will face fines from the Public Procurement Office ranging between 1,000 - 10,000 EUR. The new sterner conditions are to be applied to all tenders, regardless of the sum involved. The aim of the amendment was to ensure that only companies with a known ownership structure can take part in public procurement processes, thus creating conditions for a more detailed overview into potential links to political figures behind-the-scenes, claims the submitter from the Governing party SMER. Opposition parties believe that the amendment is inefficient and nothing more than a marketing stunt. A number of opposition lawmakers attempted to amend the bill with a number of changes, among them also mandatory duty for garage companies to reveal also the identity of the end beneficiary from state deals.

The Allianz Fair Play has called upon the Government and Parliament to come up with real solutions that would ensure the protection of public money from overpriced tenders and expose those hiding behind companies that profit from state resources."This amendment will affect only a fraction of all cases. The firms that conceal secret and often powerful owners or beneficiaries usually send others on their behalf to tenders or participate in them as sub-suppliers," said Zuzana Wienk of the NGO Allianz Fair Play. Wienk calls upon Justice Minister Tomas Borec to withdraw this "proposal from the session and replace it with a functional solution that they would arrive at after talks with experts and the opposition."