Besnike Salihu

The first cases of COVID-19 in Kosovo were reported on March 13, 2020, while almost nine months after the outbreak of the pandemic, the Municipality of Pristina introduced rapid testing for COVID-19. Specifically, on December 22, it was announced that the capital shall provide antigen testing, to be performed at the Family Medicine Center (FMC) in Emshir.

Such kits started to be used for testing the citizens of Pristina almost a month after the contract for their procurement was signed. In November 2020, the Municipality of Pristina had announced the tender with procurement number 616-20-7749-1-1-5 for the supply of antigen tests, namely 18,000 such kits. The estimated value of the contract was EUR 250,000.00, while the type of award procedure was negotiated without publication of contract notice.

It is questionable how a tender worth EUR 250,000 could be awarded through negotiated procedure nine months after the start of the pandemic and how the launch of this rapid testing effort nine months after the outbreak could be considered an extreme emergency, while PCR test kits were also in use. For both PCR and rapid tests, the examination is the same, except that the difference is in the speed of obtaining the results, where for rapid (antigen) tests the results are available after a maximum of 20 minutes.

In this tender process, with a negotiated procedure, the Municipality of Pristina received three bids with the following prices:

Invitations to negotiate without publication of contract notice were sent to four companies, including MadeKos, but the latter did not appear on the bid list.

Of these three companies, the contract for the supply of 18 thousand antigen test kits was awarded to IEC-BIO LCC, where, as stated in the contract, the award criterion was the lowest price. The report notes that the Evaluation Committee-  during negotiations with the economic operator, IEC – BIO LCC- managed to negotiate the price, lowering it from the offered price of EUR 260,100.00 to EUR 249,900.00, since the estimated contract value was EUR 250,000.00. The signing of this contract for the provision of 18 thousand antigen test kits was executed on November 26, 2020, by the Municipality of Pristina and on November 27, by the contractor.

Breaking down the bid prices for 18 thousand antigen test kits, it turns out that with AR-TECH price per test kit was EUR 16.12, while BIOTEK KOSOVO price tag was EUR 15.89. Whereas a test kit from the company that bid the cheapest price and was also the awardee, IEC-BIO LLC, initially cost EUR 14.45, but after the negotiated drop of contract price from EUR 260,100.00 to EUR 249,900.00, turns out that the price paid per antigen test kit is EUR 13.88. However, even the price of EUR 13.88 that the Municipality of Pristina paid per antigen test kit is high compared to the market price for an antigen test kit at that time.

Upon research of prices applicable in private laboratories, it turns out that at the time when such tests started to be used, the purchase price of a rapid test kit was EUR 10, while performing such an examination cost EUR 20 or 25, depending on the laboratory.  Therefore, it can be inferred that the Municipality of Pristina paid about EUR 3.88 more per rapid test kit. If we run calculations for 18 thousand test kits, then it turns out that the Municipality of Pristina paid about EUR 69,840 more compared to what it would cost to purchase 18 thousand test kits if they were bought at market price. In the subsequent months, the purchase price of such test kits declined further. A single rapid test kit can be purchased for EUR 7.5, or alternatively EUR 5 and EUR 4, while having such an examination currently costs EUR 10 or 15, depending on the laboratory.

But let’s get back to the type of contract once again. Because such a contract worth EUR 250,000 was awarded through negotiated procedure, the Municipality of Pristina was required to address the Public Procurement Regulatory Commission (PPRC). In a written response[1], the Municipality of Pristina claims that the negotiated procedure without publication of contract notice was used for the following reason:

“This tender has been declared an emergency procurement and with the use of negotiated procedure without publication of contract notice, pursuant to the request by the Directorate of Health based on the pandemic situation and was implemented in compliance with the applicable legal provisions. Further, to ensure that the Contracting Authority will receive realistic prices we invited multiple economic operators that deal with such supplies, and additionally in the negotiation phase with the lowest bidder at EUR 260,100.00 we managed to negotiate the final price of EUR 249,000.00, from the price of EUR 14.45 to EUR 13.83 per test kit, respectively. This was the only option to have a care of the market price, as there were no prior procedures involving the item in question to give us any pricing information and as it is known there is no competent institution regarding the prices of such products,” it is stated further in response[2].

According to applicable legal provisions, namely Article 35.2 of the Law on Public Procurement, whenever resorting to negotiated procedure without publication of contract notice, the contracting authority must notify PPRC of such decision and respective reasons. And according to the Municipality of Pristina, the reason was the public health emergency and the large number of active cases in Pristina. However, when the contract worth EUR 250,000 was signed, nine months had passed since the start of the pandemic and an emergency could not be substantiated at that time.

In closing, concluding contracts through negotiated procedure without publication of contract notice is not preferred, because this may restrict competition and is more susceptible to corrupt practices and patronage of a particular economic operator.

[1] Inquiries sent to the Municipality of Pristina on October 26, 2021. The Procurement Office of the Municipality of Pristina responded on November 1, 2021.

[2] Inquiries sent to the Municipality of Pristina on October 26, 2021. The Procurement Office of the Municipality of Pristina responded on November 1, 2021.

Disclaimer:

This publication was produced under the “Contribute to exposing flaws in institutional efforts to fighting COVID-19 pandemic through new legislation pieces and public contracts” funded by the European Union and implemented by Democracy Plus (D+). Its contents are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of D+ or the European Union.