Performance audit reveals deficiencies in public procurement system

The public procurement system has improved following the adoption in 2007 of a special law regulating this area, but not to the expected extent, according to a performance audit carried out as part of a pilot project in five public institutions, Info-Prim Neo reports. Speaking at a roundtable meeting dedicated to the results of the project, Tudor Suhan, senior official at the Moldovan Court of Accounts, said the public procurement sector was selected as the subject of the audit since it involves a great number of actors and huge amounts of budget money. The five institutions subjected to the audit were the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Social Protection, the Border Guards Service, and the Department for Penitentiary Institutions. Tudor Suhan said a frequent deficiency is the practice of avoiding open invitations of bids. “It was found that the procuring institutions do not follow annual or quarterly procurement plans and didn't publish any invitation for bids, thus limiting the participation of potential bidders in the competition. Also, no requirements for the bidders participating in auctions have been formulated. Some auctions were announced before the money was transferred from the budget. There were cases where the offers were modified and cases where competition was faked by the presence of three bidders which actually represented the same company”, said Tudor Suhan. “Unlike financial audit, which is limited to findings related to financial experts, performance audit examines the operation, functions and programs of an entity from the perspective of efficiency, underlining the possible improvements and their impact of the performance of that entity”, explained James Bonnell, from the US-based IBTCI.