Part of the interested bidders for the construction and furnishing of the future home for the elderly in Podgorica thought that the tendering process was terminated after the appeal on August 11, but they only learned yesterday that the tenders were in fact opened on August 16 and that the procedure was completed.
The value of this purchase is 9,8 million euros, and only two offers were received.
The director of the company Fini dom, which was interested in participating, Miloš Praščević, officially asked the client, the Directorate of Public Works (DJR), on August 17, for an answer to the question of when, after the interruption of the procedure on August 11, they would be able to submit an offer for this tender. but only yesterday they received an official answer that the bids were opened "at the scheduled time", that is, the day before on August 16.
The President of the State Commission (DK), Zoran Živković, claims, however, for "Vijesti" that the complaints submitted by the Belgrade-based Global Trade Solutions and the Podgorica company Tudors Montenegro "were filed solely for the purpose of obstructing the public procurement procedure", and that the State Commission "is always in session when it comes to priority subjects, regardless of the fact that the vacation is in progress".
The builder's procurement procedure was previously delayed for months due to appeals, and the bids were then opened on August 16, when all interested participants, including several renowned companies, did not know it, nor did they expect it, bearing in mind the previous practice that an appeal interrupts the procedure until a decision is made. State commissions.
"We ask when, as in the current practice, you will announce the change in the date of submission and opening of bids, bearing in mind that with the previous notice of August 11, 08, you suspended all activities of the contracting authority until the decision on the appeal is made, including the receipt of bids. Namely, the receipt of bids is not the activity of the bidder, but of the contracting authority in the procurement procedure in question, considering that with the mentioned notification you have suspended all your activities, including the receipt of bids, and we note that the receipt of bids is exclusively the activity of the contracting authority, in which the contracting authority is obliged in accordance with Article 2017 of the PPL to issue a confirmation of receipt, so please let us know when you will start this activity, that is, to enable us to receive bids. We note that you did not use or ask for the opportunity from Article 78 of the Public Procurement Law, to be approved for the continuation of the procedure, by the State Commission for the Control of Public Procurement Procedures", according to Praščević's letter to the DJR.
The Directorate of Public Works, as "Vijesti" announced yesterday, confirmed that two bids of IGP Fidija Podgorica and a joint bid of the companies Cijevna Commerce, Geopromet and Ekoplant with subcontractors Cijevna komerc and Prev&Ing have been opened. These bidders knew that the procedure was not terminated on August 11 and that bids should be submitted by August 16. IGP Fidija is controlled by businessman Joko Blagojević, and two companies Cijevna (with different letters in part of the name) by businessman Danilo Petrović.
From this institution, they noted "that the procedure for the public opening of bids was carried out in the scheduled time, bearing in mind that the State Commission, before the deadline for submission and opening of bids, rejected the appeals of interested parties as irregular, which created the conditions for the continuation of the procedure .
"We note that Article 124 of the Law on Public Procurement stipulates that 'a timely filed appeal interrupts all further activities of the contracting authority in the public procurement procedure, until a decision is made on the appeal,'" DJR pointed out.
The state commission, most of whose members were on vacation last week, quickly made two conclusions on the rejection of appeals because the Belgrade firm Global Trade Solutions and Podgorica Tudors Montenegro did not pay the fee for conducting the appeal procedure.
"The State Commission does not use the annual vacation in the classic way and is continuously in operation, considering that during the annual vacations they have their own on-call service, so it always meets when it comes to priority subjects, regardless of the fact that the annual vacation is in progress," claims Živković. .
He pointed out that it is evident that the submitted appeals "were filed solely for the purpose of obstructing the public procurement procedure".
"If they were serious appellants, interested in the public procurement procedure being carried out in a legal manner, they would have submitted proof of the payment of the fee for conducting the appeal procedure, which they did not do even after the deadline for the submission of evidence, which is why the State Commission is in session held on August 16, dismissed the complaints in question as irregular. The state commission published and delivered the conclusions in question, made in connection with the aforementioned appeals, in a timely manner before the public opening of bids", claims Živković.
Živković: No one called us to influence the Commission's decisions
Answering the question, Živković noted that these two appeals were not resolved quickly, but that the rule of the State Commission is that appeals submitted without proof of payment of the fee for conducting the proceedings are resolved immediately and in all cases.
When asked by "Vijesti" according to what criteria this case was taken into consideration before some others, since decisions in other cases are often waited for several months, Živković replied that the State Commission takes into operation, as a priority, those cases that are capital interests for the economy and the citizens of Montenegro, such as health protection, construction of facilities of vital importance, such as in this particular case the construction of a Home for the elderly in Podgorica.
And, when asked by "Vijesti" whether someone from the executive power or the private sector might have called him on vacation and influenced the Commission's work, Živković said that no one from the executive power or the private sector had contacted the State Commission to influence its work.
Vojin Lazarevic and the Tudors boutique obstructed the tender with complaints
The Belgrade firm Global Trade Solutions, which filed a complaint with the DJR on August 16 and thus, as they claim in the Directorate, hindered the implementation of the tender, belongs to the Rudnap group, which has been controlled by businessman Vojin Lazarevic for years.
The last time the same company was in the public eye was two years ago when it procured two transformers, each weighing 200 tons, for the needs of the Montenegrin Electric Transmission System (CGES) with a company from Shanghai. During the delivery from the wagon to the train track in Bar, one of the two transformers fell.
Another company, Tudors Montenegro, was also accused of obstruction, which filed a complaint on August 11, when the procurement process was not interrupted. This company is registered for clothing retail trade - boutique. The director of this company is Damir Novalić, and the owners are Teodora Mitrović and Zoran Đurović, each with a 50 percent stake.
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