Visar Prebreza                                                                                                                                                                                                             05.08.2024

The Faculty of Agriculture has yet to be open for new applications for the 2024-2025 academic year as a result of stalled development of a building since 2013. The construction work started as a result of a contract that was signed in 2013, however the work was never completed.

The most recent tender by the University of Pristina to make the building functional, valued at 1.6 million Euros, was canceled a few days later. Officially, the tender was canceled due to a lack of budget, but it was actually withdrawn at the request of the University of Pristina’s Steering Council, which had been bypassed when the tender was opened.

Steering Council Bypassed

The tender, with an estimated value of 1.641 million Euros for the “Operationalization of the New Building of the Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary,” was announced on May 13, 2024. According to the tender data, the non-operational state of the building threatens the Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary’s ability to enroll students for the 2024-2025 academic year.

Despite the contract notice stating that this contract was vital for the Faculty of Agriculture, the University of Pristina canceled the tender 11 days later, on May 24, 2024, citing “a lack of funds” for the project. The economic operator “Quatro Trade Sh.P.K” appealed against the decision to cancel the procurement activity, but later withdrew the request for review. This justification was given despite the fact that contracting authorities cannot open a tender without a document indicating that there are sufficient funds to complete the intended contract.

Article 22 of the Public Procurement Law (PPL) states that tenders can only be initiated once guarantees have been received that there are sufficient funds for the procurement activity:

“Such Authorizing Officer shall not authorize the Procurement Officer to initiate a proposed procurement activity until the contracting authority’s Chief Authorizing Officer (CAO) has provided the Authorizing Officer with the concerned Statement of Needs and Determination of Availability of Funds, signed by both the CAO and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the contracting authority, as required by paragraph 5 Article 9 of this law,” states Article 22 of the PPL.

The tender was opened in May with the justification that it was necessary for the Faculty of Agriculture to be operational and accredited by the State Council of Quality. The University of Pristina published the rationale for canceling the tender, linked to a meeting of the University’s Steering Council. Altin Sahiti, the head of the Steering Council of the University of Pristina, said that the Council had been bypassed when the tender was opened. In a phone conversation, Sahiti stated that as the highest authority of the University, the Steering Council should have been informed and given approval for the tender’s opening:

“They canceled it a few days ago. They can say whatever they want, but the Steering Council was bypassed. The Law on Public Finance Management clearly states that a large-value tender, like this one, must be planned, budgeted, and approved by the highest authority, which in this case is the Steering Council of the University. This was not done.  We were not aware of it,”

When contacted by phone, Përparim Shurdhiqi, the head of procurement at the University of Pristina, was asked why the tender was opened without the Council’s approval. He refused to respond, stating, “I am the acting head, and all questions should be directed to the media office.” The spokesperson for the University of Pristina, Irfan Nikçi, did not respond by the time this article was published. Similarly, the secretary of the University of Pristina, Besfort Krasniqi, did not provide a response despite promising in a phone conversation on May 30, 2024, that answers would be given in writing.

In the meantime, in the decision dated May 24, 2024, to cancel the tender, the University of Pristina stated that the tender was canceled because the Steering Council warned that the project’s cost exceeded budgetary capabilities:

The decision stated that “…specifically, there are insufficient budgetary funds, which could result in the inability or problems during the project’s implementation phases. The University of Pristina will seek additional funds during the budget review and will explore other alternative sources of funding…”

Public institutions can cancel tenders before the opening of bids, but the University of Pristina’s decision is not supported by any legal provisions in the current legislation, as exceeding budgetary capabilities is not a basis for cancellation at this stage of tendering.^[1] According to the Public Procurement Law, when the contracting authority opens a tender, it must have a statement of fund availability signed by the institution’s Chief Financial Officer, a document ensuring that the funds projected to be spent on the project are indeed available. The University of Pristina has not responded to questions about whether this procurement activity had secured prior financial commitment.

Moreover, the University of Pristina has not provided the document confirming the availability of funds, requested on May 28, 2024. Therefore, it is unclear whether the University had this signed document when the tender was opened. In the tender notice, justifying the tender’s opening, the University of Pristina stated that the State Council of Quality refused to re-accredit the programs of the Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary precisely due to the new building’s non-functional status. The notice mentioned that the Faculty would not be able to enroll new students unless the University provided evidence that it would operationalize the new building project by September 30, 2024:

“Recently, the State Council of Quality has refused the re-accreditation of the programs of the Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary for the aforementioned reasons, meaning that no new students can be accepted for the academic year 2024/25 unless the University of Pristina can provide substantial evidence that it will operationalize the new Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary building project before September 30, 2024,” the notice stated.

Njomza Llullaku, the vice-rector of the University of Pristina, mentioned that they are negotiating for the Faculty of Agriculture to use classrooms in the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

“The University of Pristina and its campus belong to everyone. If there is space where the Faculty of Agriculture can hold its classes, we will use it. We are negotiating to enable a one-year accreditation until the building is completed,” Llullaku stated.

She emphasized that infrastructure is a non-negotiable standard, and they are working on a permanent solution for the Faculty of Agriculture building.

Facility Location in Violation of Technical Conditions

Since the beginning of the Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary building’s construction in 2013, several problems have arisen with this project. In July 2018, students from this faculty protested, demanding that the new building be operational for the new academic year starting in October 2018. This however, did not happen.

Students protested again in January 2022, specifically due to the non-operational status of the new Faculty of Agriculture building. In 2022, further issues emerged with the building. The Kosovo Transmission, System, and Market Operator (KOSTT) determined that the building was constructed too close to the last electrical conductor of KOSTT’s power line. The University of Pristina confirmed the violation of the permitted distance, finding through a geodetic company’s engagement that the distance between the building and the last KOSTT conductors was closer than the issued technical conditions allowed.

The National Audit Office (NAO) found in its 2020 Audit Report for the University of Pristina that the University selected the most expensive company for the road construction tender near the new Faculty of Agriculture building. According to the NAO, the winning company’s bid was 60,232 Euros more expensive than the bid of the company eliminated from the competition. The cheaper company was disqualified for lacking ISO certificates and failing to provide a certificate for the crystalline waterproofing system for the project manager. The NAO also found that the winning company did not meet some criteria required in the tender documents. The winning company provided evidence that the geodesy engineer had two years of professional experience, while the tender documents required four years.

The University of Pristina needs a new tender and an operator to finalize the works and make the Faculty of Agriculture building functional. Until then, agriculture students are expected to take their classes in other buildings of the University of Pristina.

Disclaimer:

This article was produced under the project “Encouraging transparent, accountable and efficient public money spending through public procurement in Kosovo” 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.

[1] Public Procurement Regulation. Article 43.8