WITH DEFICIENCES OF VIEW
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The Court of Accounts of the Republic of Moldova, on July 19, examined in an online meeting the Compliance Audit Report of public procurement within the system of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration (MFAEI) during 2019-2020.
The purpose of the external public audit consisted in assessing the conformity of the public procurement process according to the provisions of the normative-legal framework applicable with the issuance of the general audit conclusion.
The central apparatus of the MFAEI made public procurements in 2019 in a total amount of about 9 million lei, being concluded 173 public procurement contracts.
In 2020, 133 contracts were concluded in a total amount of about 10.5 million lei or 1.4 million lei more than in the previous year. The largest share is held by low value public procurement, which in 2019 account for about 56%, and in 2020 - 33%.
The audit examinations with regard to public procurement planning revealed that the process in question was not in all cases based on an objective knowledge of the needs of the institution's goods, works and services. These circumstances caused the elaboration with some reservations of the public procurement plans, and the subsequent purchase of some goods and services was carried out outside the contractual relations or with the division of the acquisitions. Thus, the audit shows that the central apparatus of the MFAEI concluded with 58 contracts of low value more (in the amount of 2.2 million lei), compared to the acquisitions included in the Annual Procurement Plan for 2019, and with 18 contracts, respectively, more in 2020 (in the amount of 0.5 million lei).
Deficiencies were found by dividing public procurement for maintenance, cleaning and IT consulting services, being made purchases through low value contracts in the amount of 75.6 thousand lei in 2019 and 80.8 thousand lei in 2020, prior to the registration date contracts.
According to the regulatory framework, the rules on the description of goods, works and services stipulate that the technical specifications developed by the contracting authority will not refer to a particular trademark or economic operator. Contrary to the mentioned provisions, in case of a purchase related to the infrastructure of the internal networks, the awarding documentation includes the definition of some articles using the name of a trademark. In the opinion of the audit, these circumstances lead to the favoring of the participation of some tenderers in the procedure and the elimination of other tenders as unacceptable.
The audit examinations also found some uncertainties in the acquisition of the Microsoft 365 license. In order to elaborate the audit findings, the letters of the Court of Accounts were requested to present positions, in view of the institutional competencies of the Electronic Government Agency and the Information Technology and Cyber Security Service.
Within the central apparatus of the MFAEI, based on the management order, the working group for public procurement is created. In order to ensure the proper functioning of the working group and in order not to admit deviations, it is necessary to complete the internal regulations on the organization of public procurement of goods, works and services for institutional needs. At the same time, in the case of 5 out of 7 procedures performed in 2019, the audit found that the confidentiality and impartiality statements of the members of the working group were not signed or were missing.
Regarding the diplomatic missions and consular offices, the audit also highlighted weaknesses concerning the public procurement process. Thus, in 2019, the purchase of goods, services and works was carried out in a total amount of about 71.8 million lei, and in 2020 - of about 78.7 million lei, with 6.9 million lei more than from the previous year. The largest share of total purchases is held by service contracts of 79.6% in 2019 and 80.3% in 2020, followed by purchases of goods, services or works expressed through the payment account (without contract) higher than 10.0 thousand lei constituting 12.3% and 10.9%, respectively. Thus, according to the legal framework, public procurement contracts concluded by the institutions of the diplomatic service are exempted from the Law on Public Procurement, if their value does not exceed the thresholds provided by law.
The audit mentions that the diplomatic missions and consular offices concluded contracts in the total amount of 62.9 million lei in 2019 and in the amount of 70.0 million lei in 2020, of which, mainly services and the purchase of goods and works. In the context of compliance with regulatory principles, the audit shows that the institutions of the diplomatic service do not have annual public procurement plans to substantiate the estimate of procurement needs.
Thus, as a result of the audit verifications, is exemplified the situation related to the capital investments chapter for the construction of a headquarters for one of the diplomatic missions abroad. The audit shows that the contracts were concluded with residents of the country of residence, as public procurement procedures were not applied, given the compliance with the thresholds set by the Law on Public Procurement. In these circumstances, in the opinion of the audit, it is considered that the obligation provided by art. 7 of the Law on public procurement regarding the principles governing the relations regarding public procurement was not complied with.
Also, are revealed the situations in which one of the diplomatic missions concluded 7 contracts for the acquisition of current repair works in a total amount of 1.7 million lei. Of these, 5 contracts in the total amount of 0.8 million lei were concluded with an individual enterprise, in 4 cases with an interval of 2-4 days, with the payment of advance payments in the amount of 60% -70%. Also, with another economic operator, 2 contracts were concluded in a total amount of 0.9 million lei, with the payment of advance payments in the amount of 50% and 70%, respectively.
Likewise, it is attested to make advance payments in the amount of up to 100% for the purchase of means of transport purchased in 2019 and 2020.
In these circumstances, the audit identifies risks of non-transparency of public procurement, with prepayment in significant amounts, circumstances that may favor certain economic operators and may condition risks of public money management.
The Court of Accounts concludes that the process of conducting public procurement within the system of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration during 2019-2020 was with deficiencies and vulnerabilities at all stages of public procurement, characterized by insufficient internal regulatory framework, including, taking into account the specifics of the activity of the institutions of the diplomatic service. These issues have negatively influenced the processes of estimating, planning and executing the budgets of MFAEI and diplomatic service institutions in conjunction with the principles of good governance, limiting transparency regarding the information and accessibility of potential economic operators on public procurement, not respecting the principles legality, transparency and efficiency.
