The management of the Obod printing house in Cetinje has submitted a request to the Ministry of Finance to start an inspection and take measures against the Customs Administration because they suspect that a tender for the purchase of hardware equipment, printed excise stamps and a license for the lease of software for the electronic management system of excise stamps has been rigged, with a framework agreement on two years with the only valid bidder - Leonhard Kurz Stiftung&Co.KG.
The tender was announced by the Customs Administration, whose director is Vladan Joković, on November 14, 2019, and after the procedure, the authorized representative of the contracting authority - Joković, signed a contract worth 5 million euros (for the first year) with the selected company on March 1,22 this year, as and a framework agreement for a period of two years.
The selected bidder did not deliver licenses for the lease of the software for the electronic stamp management system, so on October 29, the Customs Administration signed an annex to the contract, which extended the deadlines from 180 days to 345 days.
"The authorized representative of the Customs Administration (Joković), in order to protect the public interest according to Article 13 of the basic contract dated March 5 this year, was obliged to collect the full guarantee of five percent of the contract value in case the supplier does not fulfill any of the obligations stipulated in the contract. "He also had to terminate the contract in order to protect the public interest according to Article 19 of the basic contract because he had all the elements," claims the president of the Obod Printing Board, Aleksandar Jovović, in the request to take measures to the Ministry, which was sent to the director of the Directorate for Public Procurement Policy, Jelena. Jovetić and the director of the Directorate for Tax and Customs System, Biljani Peranović.
The Administration claims that in dealing with the German company Leonhard Kurzu, the public interest is fully protected.
The bidder was obliged to transfer the software lease license for the system for electronic management of excise stamps "no later than August 5, 2020, and the period of exploitation of the software was supposed to be 18 months according to the tender procedure and framework agreement".
Jovović: Tender drawn for pre-selected bidder
Jovović assessed that the tender procedure "violated all possible principles of public procurement, while the signing of this harmful contract, especially its annex, caused financial damage to the state, and the bidder LeonhardKurz Stiftung&Co.KG unlawful property gain".
"In addition to the violation of the principle of ensuring competition, the principle of equality, freedom and the prohibition of discrimination, the principle of economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the use of public funds, a number of legal provisions were violated in the tender procedure itself," claims Jovović.
He stated that in the technical specification of the procurement item, "in order to favor Leonhard KurzStiftung&Co.KG and adapt the equipment to their finished software solution, the Administration required the trademark IBM for the procurement of the IBM Storvize v700 GEN2 data storage system, as well as servers for blade chassis - trademark Lenovo k240 unspecified or “equivalent”.
"It is obvious from the specification of the technical documentation that the technical characteristics of the equipment were adapted to the 'proposed solution' and the tender was drawn up for a pre-selected bidder, which violated the principle of ensuring competition, and thus the principle of economy, efficiency and effectiveness of the use of public funds. As you know, favoritism, that is, discrimination against bidders, according to the OECD, is one of the 12 risks that lead to the possibility of corruption in public procurement," Jovović pointed out in his request to the Ministry.
Customs: Protected public interest
When asked by "Vijesti" whether the annex to the contract protected public or private interest, if they shortened the lease period of the software license in the first year of the contract from 185 days to 20 days, and the price remained the same, Joković's cabinet replied that "the annex of the public procurement contract with the German company Leonhard Kurz, which extended the deadline for the delivery of the license, the public interest is fully protected".
"According to the contract, the software rental license is paid on a monthly basis, after the delivery of the software, in the amount of 23.000 euros without VAT (per month). The value of the contracted total purchase including VAT is EUR 1.222.680,8, and this amount, in addition to the price for the delivery of hardware (server equipment) and the price for the monthly payment of the software lease license, also includes the price for the delivery of printed excise stamps for marking tobacco products and alcoholic beverages. The price in the amount of 464.525,42 euros without VAT, which is paid for printing excise stamps, is refunded from the taxpayer when the excise stamps are issued," said the Customs Administration.
The annex to the contract was signed precisely to protect the public interest in the conditions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Administration
They emphasized that the annex to the contract was signed "precisely to protect the public interest and in the conditions caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the license for the software for the excise stamp management system was successfully delivered during the duration of the contract".
"Therefore, since the delivery of the software license will be for the duration of the contract, there is no basis for terminating the contract or activating the warranty. The annex was aimed precisely at protecting the interests of the state and the rights of the state in terms of overcoming the current situation caused by the pandemic, as well as insisting on compliance with contractual obligations for the implementation and efficiency of work... According to the signed contract for the first year of the framework agreement, in accordance with the foreseen dynamics , the hardware equipment was delivered, and the supplier was paid, at the price stipulated in the contract, 166.400 euros without VAT. The equipment in question is the property of the Customs Administration from the moment of delivery," explained the Administration.
Management: Worked legally, and to make this project against the gray economy successful
When asked by "Vijesti" what role did the MRG Export - Import Belgrade company play in this process, the Customs Administration answered that it was "a subcontractor of the chosen supplier - Leonhard Kurza".
"Finally, the implementation of the public procurement procedure and the realization of the contract is fully transparent and in accordance with the Law on Public Procurement. The tender documentation, clarifications to the requests of several interested parties, the contract, as well as the annex were published on the website of the Directorate for Public Procurement of the Ministry of Finance. In the conditions of the pandemic, the Customs Administration mobilized all its resources in order to successfully implement this project and significantly contribute to the fight against the gray economy and the illegal circulation of excise goods", replied Joković's cabinet.
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