The total value of purchases in Montenegro last year amounted to 809.301.703 euros, of which 675,19 million are public purchases, and the rest of 134,1 million euros are purchases of electricity and coal.
Last year, the wholesaler "Glosarij" was by far the largest bidder in Montenegro, and they signed 66 contracts with the state worth a total of 70,93 million euros.
These are data from the Government's annual report on public procurement for 2023.
Statistics show that more than 7.000 public procurement contracts were signed last year, of which EUR 306,71 million related to goods, EUR 84,94 million to services and EUR 218,93 million to works.
The value of public procurement last year was about 56 million more than in 2022, when it amounted to 753,72 million.
Public procurement is carried out by state bodies for the purpose of procuring goods, providing services or performing works, through the Montenegrin electronic public procurement system (CeJN).
Procurement accounted for 2023 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 11,8, which is 1,2 percent less than in 2022, when the share was 13 percent.
At the same time, the share of public procurement increased to the level of 9,87 percent, which is one percentage point more than in 2022.
Canceled 2.544 purchases
"Glosarij" is also the company that had the biggest single contract, and it was signed with the state-owned "Montefarm" and was worth more than 25 million euros. According to the data, this company had the three largest contracts with the state last year, and two were worth 20,58 million and 12.821.380 euros. All of them were signed for the procurement of goods and medicines.
Among the companies that concluded contracts worth more than 10.000.000 euros, are the companies "Elkon", "Crnagoraput" and "IBT", which signed it for the works with the Traffic Administration.
The Directorate for Capital Projects had two contracts for works with several companies, the value of which exceeded 9,5 million euros. Apart from them, the contract signed by the Pljeval Coal Mine with the company "Jugopetrol" had a similar value.
The least valuable contracts on the list of the 50 most valuable were for around 1,4 million euros, and were concluded with private individuals by Elektroprivreda and the Administration for Capital Projects.
"Glossary" was also the largest bidder in 2023, which signed contracts with the state worth 70,93 million euros. The average value of 66 contracts was higher than one million euros.
After that, the most important company is "Farmegra" for trade, traffic and services, with which contracts of 20.553.978 euros were concluded, followed by the company "Eurozox", which received contracts worth 15,56 million euros. The companies "Novi Volvox" and "Fidija" also had more than 15 million euros in contracts, while "Bemax", "Intermost" and "Crnagoraput" also received jobs with a total value of more than 10 million euros.
The largest number of contracts with the state was signed by the Danilovgrad company "Farmont MP", 145, while the company "Osmi red-d" had 144. The total value of these contracts was more than 5.300.000 euros, in the case of both companies.
In addition, a higher level of canceled public procurements was recorded last year, which was 2.544. That is about three times more than in 2019, when 739 were canceled, and almost twice as much as in 2022, when 1,29 thousand were canceled.
When it comes to the most valuable terminated contracts in 2023, the first is the one that the Municipality of Pljevlja had with the company "Jasen", and it was related to subsidies for pellets and was worth 651,75 thousand euros. Among the larger ones is the contract of Elektroprivreda with the company "Batara", regarding the procurement of the substructure, signed for 176.770 euros, but also the one of 124,99 thousand that the Ministry of Defense had with the companies "Pegasus Avioacion" and "Li commerce". Last year, the municipality of Budva terminated the contract of 132 thousand euros for the repair of sidewalks in that coastal city.
There are no reports of possible corruption
It is pointed out that in 2023, no report was submitted to the Directorate for Public Procurement Policy about possible corrupt actions and the existence of conflicts of interest, but that it is planned to connect CeJN with the electronic system of the Agency for the Prevention of Corruption.
"The largest number of procedures was carried out through an open procedure, as the most transparent procedure that achieves the highest level of competition in the amount of 88,22 percent. In the public procurement system, domestic bidders dominate with 91,99 percent, while the participation of foreign bidders is at the level of the previous year, namely 8,01 percent. The average number of offers according to the public procurement procedure was 3,18. The average duration of the open procedure from the moment of publication of the tender documents to the publication of the contract is 81 days", this document says.
A number of institutions have not published their public procurement plan
Among the state institutions that have not published a public procurement plan for 2023 are the Budget Directorate, the State Audit Institution, the Commission for the Protection of Rights in Public Procurement Procedures, the Ministry of Energy and Tourism, Parking Service Žabljak, the Police and Customs Administration and Real Estate.
In addition to them, the list also includes the Agency for Design and Development and Radio Television Rožaje, "Castello" from Pljevlja, Kotor Directorate for Arrangement and Construction, Zeta Public Utility Company, Budva Museums and Galleries, primary schools "Šćepan Đukić" and "Vukajlo Kukalj ", "Montenegro works", Parking service Žabljak, Sports and Youth Administration.
Procurement accounted for 2023 percent of the gross domestic product in 11,8, which is 1,2 percent less than in 2022.
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