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Fico: Bill on UVO May Order Probes into Background of Tender Bidders
Saturday 27 February 2010 Zoom in | Print page
(Slovak Radio, January 27, 'Sobotne dialogy')
The Act on Public Procurement amendment, set to be discussed by the Parliament in early March vis-a-vis adjusting the term of office for the Public Procurement Office (UVO) Chairman (Bela Angyal), could feature also mandatory state inspections into the background of tender bidders, Slovak Premier Robert Fico said on the Slovak Radio's politics discussion programme Sobotne Dialogy ('Saturday Dialogues') on Saturday.
Fico plans to discuss this issue at a Coalition Council session on March 2. "Let's get to it, and let's introduce mandatory inspections, so the consortium of any bidder will be transparent like that X-ray photograph, on which you can see every bone and whether the bone is broken or not, whether this will work or not. I'm all for this transparency, as it's a good idea, and I'm glad a discussion of this kind has emerged. It forces us to find ways to improve the system, and I'm up for it," said Fico.
While on the subject, Fico conceded that cases of big foreign companies taking part in Slovakia's tenders and bringing along small firms with unknown backgrounds are being viewed negatively by the public. One such case happens to be the tender on the electronic road-toll system, in which the winner - a reputable French company Sanef - involved also an unknown company Ibertax. According to Fico, it's necessary to ask who stands behind Ibertax.
Fico can imagine that prospective bidders will need to provide information on their history and background as a prerequisite for taking part in the tender. Alternatively, an inspection on every bidder could be carried out by a special committee, he thinks. Public procurement procedures per se have represented a long-time trauma for Slovakia, according to Fico, being inherited from government to government. If these processes were better set and carried out, Slovakia would have saved more than 20 percent of financial resources.
"I'm convinced that there's a scope for improvement here. In light of recent attacks on Smer-SD (made by Opposition), maybe not focusing on this issue as much as on highways and Mochovce projects was a mistake," admitted Fico.
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