WITH DEFICIENCES OF VIEW
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The Court of Accounts of the Republic of Moldova, on July 23, examined in an online hearing the Audit Report on compliance of public procurement in the system of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) in 2019-2020.
The purpose of the external public audit was to assess the compliance of public procurement in the MoJ system in the period 2019-2020.
During the mentioned period, the contracting authorities from the MoJ system carried out public procurements in a total amount of 327.2 million lei, with the organization of 43 open tenders, 53 procedures for requesting price offers, 616 procurements through low value contracts, 47 of negotiation procedures and 3 procedures exempted from the provisions of the Law on public procurement no. 131 from 03.07.2015. Out of the total expenditures executed for public procurements, the major share is held by the National Administration of Penitentiaries (NAP) in the amount of 257.3 million lei, or 78.6%, followed by the National Probation Inspectorate (NPI) in the amount of 23.9 million lei, or 7.3%, the National Archives Agency (NAA) in the amount of 21.7 million lei, or 6.6%, the Agency for the Administration of Courts (AAC) in the amount of 10.7 million. lei, or 3.3%, the National Center for Judicial Expertise (NCJE) in the amount of 6.9 million lei, or 2.1%, and the Ministry of Justice in the amount of 4.1 million lei, or 1,3%.
In order to assess the compliance of public procurement and the use of financial resources within the MoJ system in 2019-2020, taking into account the risks identified at the planning stage, the external public audit totaling 285.3 million lei, which constitutes 87.2% of the total expenditures for public procurement in the system of the Ministry of Justice. At the same time, the capital investments in the system of the MoJ for the construction of the headquarters of some courts and the construction or reconstruction of some penitentiaries were subject to verification.
Generalizing the findings and conclusions, the external public audit reveals the following:
- Failure and non-publication by the ANP of the notices of intent of 14 public tenders amounting to 39.8 million lei in 2019 and, respectively, of 20 public tenders amounting to 81.5 million lei in 2020. Situations analogs were found for audit in 2019 at Penitentiary no. 13 from Chisinau, in the case of 4 public tenders with a total value of 4.2 million lei, as well as at Penitentiary no. 2 from Lipcani, in case of a public auction worth 0.9 million lei.
- The non-publication by NAP of the annual procurement plan, approved on 25.01.2019, amounting to 85.5 million lei, as well as of the procurement plan updated for the first semester of 2019, approved on 28.06.2019 amounting to 91, 3 million lei. Similar situations are attested for 2019 and within 19 institutions subordinated to NAP, which included purchases of goods, services and works totaling 91.0 million lei.
- The non-updating by 18 institutions subordinated to NAP of the annual public procurement plans for 2019, being made unplanned acquisitions amounting to 8.6 million lei, without their inclusion in the annual plans or their modification. Analogous situations are also attested within NAP, the value of the acquisitions made in the absence of planning amounting to 3.0 million lei.
- Insufficient study of the market by some penitentiary institutions in 2019 conditioned the bearing of additional expenses within the penitentiary system of about 0.4 million lei for the purchase of similar food products at different prices.
- In 2019-2020, there is a low level of execution of capital investments within the Ministry of Justice, the audit identifying some problems and deficiencies in the processes of construction and reconstruction of investment objectives, not exploiting budgetary resources for capital investments in the total amount of 216.2 million lei in 2019 and, respectively, 390.9 in 2020.
Regarding the capital investments for the construction of some judges' offices, it is mentioned that, by the Parliament Decision no. 21 of 03.03.2017, the Plan for the construction of new buildings and the renovation of existing buildings, necessary for the proper functioning of the courts, was approved. In this context, some irregularities were identified:
- The MoJ did not ensure the staged implementation of the actions of the Plan for the years 2019-2020, the project and estimate documentation not being elaborated, nor the construction works of the five court premises executed. In 2020, the construction works were to be completed at the mentioned objectives and the minutes of reception at the end of the works and of final reception were drawn up, with the registration of the buildings at the cadastral body.
- In addition, the Ministry of Justice did not ensure the realization, and in some cases carried out with delay, some actions related to the periods prior to 2019-2020, provided by the Plan, related to the identification and allocation of land for the construction of seven courts.
Regarding the capital investments within the penitentiary system, it is mentioned that, in order to improve the detention conditions according to international norms and standards, the Government of the Republic of Moldova has assumed the objective of construction and reconstruction of some penitentiaries, according to the Action Plan and Development Strategy concerning the penitentiary administration system for the years 2016-2020. The audit found that, although at the end of 2019 the construction and reconstruction works of two objectives were completed, the capital investment process was affected by some irregularities and deficiencies:
- Regarding the construction of the Chisinau Penitentiary, it is mentioned that during 2019-2020, the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) organized several tenders and a direct negotiation procedure according to the rules of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEDB), in order to select companies for the execution of construction works and supervision services, the results of which were canceled due to non-compliance with the submitted bids. Consequently, the representatives of CEDB proposed to organize a new procurement procedure in 2021, with the analysis of the reasons that led to unsuccessful tenders and negotiations.
- According to the framework loan agreement, signed on October 10, 2013, the construction works of the penitentiary were to be completed on December 31, 2017, and the commissioning of the objective was planned for July 2018. Based on the project of organizing the site, it was estimated that the construction work will take about 36 months. The audit shows that until 31.12.2019 the construction works of the penitentiary in Chisinau municipality were not initiated, the implementation of the project being delayed compared to the deadlines established in the Loan Framework Agreement, by about 54 months. For this reason, on 14.01.2019, the Ministry of Finance intervened to CEDB with the request to extend the implementation period of the project, which was extended to March 15, 2019 by the Board of Directors of CEDB until December 31, 2022.
Certified audit situations affect the timely implementation of government policies in the field of justice, related to the improvement of detention conditions and the provision of courts with adequate premises and working conditions. At the same time, these situations generate a negative financial impact, involving additional costs from the state budget, caused by delays in the construction and reconstruction of investment objects.
The results of the external public audit, based on the evaluations and activities carried out, show that the public procurement process and the use of public financial resources within the MoJ system in 2019-2020 were affected by some irregularities and deficiencies, largely conditioned by insufficient implementation of the internal managerial control system, as well as of the non-compliant realization by the working groups for acquisitions within these entities of the established attributions and functions.
The Court of Accounts concludes that the public procurement process and the use of financial resources within the system of the Ministry of Justice in 2019-2020 are partially according to the legal provisions, and measures will be taken to consolidate and develop the internal management control system with reference to audited areas.
