President of the Board of Directors of Štamprija Obod, Aleksandar Jovović claims in his report to the Ministry of Finance and the Directorate for Inspection Affairs that his suspicions that the million-dollar tender of the Customs Administration was pre-arranged for the selected bidder were confirmed, in a conversation at the end of November, by "Customs representative Branislav Janković".
The purchase of 1,22 million euros refers to the purchase of hardware equipment, printed excise stamps and a license to lease software for the system for electronic management of excise stamps, with a two-year framework agreement. The tender was announced on November 14 last year.
The contract for the first year was signed on March 5 this year.
The selected bidder "Leonhard KurzStiftung&Co.KG" did not deliver the licenses within the agreed period, so on October 29, the Customs Administration signed an annex to the contract which extended the deadlines.
In the report, he recounts the conversation with Janković
Jovović stated in the letter that their doubts about this business were further fueled after the meeting at the Ministry of Finance on November 24 of this year, stating who was present.
"Namely, due to non-compliance with the deadlines of the selected bidder and non-compliance with the provisions of the signed contract between the Customs Administration and the company 'Leonhard KurzStiftung&Co.KG', we were invited to a meeting at the Ministry of Finance in order to extend the current cooperation between the Ministry of Finance and the Printing Office for a period of three months. At that meeting, the representative of the Customs Administration, Branislav Janković (a member of the tender commission), in a conversation with the president of the Board of Directors of Štamprija Obod, which was attended by the aforementioned persons, stated (I will paraphrase) that the representatives of the company Leonhard KurtzStiftung&Co.KG had a meeting and presentation of their software solution in the old Government building before the tender was announced, and that this work was agreed "at the top of the Government". That he is sorry, but that everything they did in this procedure was done by order of the top of the Government and that we should have gone there and agreed with them. "Almost a year has already passed, so you can develop your solution in a year and appear at a new tender," quoted Jovović in his application to the Ministry and the Directorate for Inspection Affairs.
The work is from the period of the former government.
"Vijesti" was unable to reach Janković yesterday in order for him to comment on Jovović's claims, which are in the report to the Government Department and the Directorate for Inspection Affairs.
What slow
Jovović adds that, according to the principle of equality, freedom and non-discrimination under the Law on Public Procurement, the Customs Administration "was obliged to ensure that all business entities in the public procurement procedure have equal treatment".
"In the public procurement procedure, the customer was not allowed to provide information in a discriminatory way that would provide an advantage to a certain participant in the procedure compared to other participants, let alone adapt the technical specification to the "proposed solution". "Not only did the representatives of "Leonhard Kurz" have a privileged position in this procedure, both through the opportunity to present a ready-made solution, and through the adaptation of technical characteristics to the "proposed solution" by the bidder (I assume that they mean the solution proposed at the presentation in the old government building, according to Janković's admission), but the tender conditions additionally prescribed extremely short deadlines for the implementation of software and the delivery of equipment, so that no one serious could be involved in the tender process", stated Jovović in the application. The Administration announced that the public interest is protected in this business, and that the procurement procedure and the implementation of the contract are fully transparent and in accordance with the Law on Public Procurement.
Was the selected bidder in a privileged position
From the Customs Administration, when asked by "Vijesti" whether the company "Leonhard Kurz" had the opportunity to present a finished solution in the old government building and whether they thereby put them in a privileged position compared to other potential interested suppliers, the office of the director of the Administration, Vladan Joković, did not give a concrete answer.
"The regulation on marking tobacco products and alcoholic beverages with excise stamps prescribes the new content and appearance of excise stamps, as well as the use of a security QR code and digital and other security elements. Also, the new regulation stipulates that the control of the order, approval, printing and issuance of excise stamps is carried out through the information system, as well as that the control of the use of excise stamps is carried out by accessing the information system and from a remote location".
They add that the Customs Administration, in order to implement the new regulation and prevent actions contrary to the provisions of the Excise Law, and especially respecting, among other things, the provisions of the EC decision on technical standards for safety features for tobacco products, "in coordination with the Ministry of Finance, conducted an open public procurement procedure for the introduction of a system for the electronic management of excise stamps, including the security printing of excise stamps".
"The introduction of advanced technology will improve the efficiency of the customs service in suppressing illegal trade in tobacco products, which is also the recommendation of the EC given in the annual progress reports on EU accession. In order to have this system fully operational, the Customs Administration is simultaneously developing a national application for excise duties, which will, among other things, enable electronic monitoring of the movement of excise goods in the regime of deferred payment of excise duty, using an electronic excise document, as an essential prerequisite for future connection with the EU excise system (EMCS)", the Administration pointed out.
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