December, 2013.
According to the amendments adopted in November 2013 and which will come into force in May, 2014, contracting authorities need to analyze the market and determine the competition and the number of potential bidders before publishing a tender notice.
If contracting authorities think that they would fail to provide a sufficient number of bidders in the bidding process (at least 3, 4 or 5 depending on the procedure) they need to provide an approval for conducting that tender by the Council for public procurement, established within the Bureau for public procurement. Changes in the same law stipulate prison sentences for those who fail to follow the procedure and try to limit the competition.
"In the past, the interest of the companies was significantly declining, sometimes because of the high conditions and bidding criteria set in the tender documentation and that is the reason why the Government is going to establish the Council for public procurement beginning from May 2014. This Council will exclusively work on issuing approvals that should prove the findings from the market analyses, as well as that those technical specifications and documentation would not limit the competition. The purpose is to provide competition in the public procurement market, because it is the competition which really obtains good prices in the tenders", said Mare Bogeva Micovska, director of the Bureau of public procurement of the Republic of Macedonia.
Recent amendments introduce for the first time penalty provisions within the Law on public procurement. They predict imprisonment of 1 to 5 years for those who will compile tender documentation in order to limit competition in public procurement and achieve material gain for themselves or for another person.
More details on the amendments to the Law on public procurement in addition:
https://balkantenderwatch.eu/local/uploaded/MKD%20local/IZMENI%20ZJN%202013.pdf
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