The tender for the conceptual design project for constructing the Kosovo National Theater of Opera and Ballet worth 2.5 million euros is canceled
The Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports (MCYS), today, on January 30, 2024, has canceled the tender for the development of the conceptual project for the construction of the Kosovo Opera and Ballet Theatre, which had an estimated contract value of 2.5 million euros.
Regarding this procurement activity, Democracy Plus (D+), in collaboration with “Economic Bulletin“, published the investigative article “The 2.5 Million Tender for the Opera Ends in the Public Procurement Review Body (PPRB), Under Suspicions of Favoring the Winning Company”, authored by Mirjeta Shabani, who found facts indicating that the company declared the winner by the ministry had violated the tender rules by revealing its identity during the bidding process.
The Public Procurement Law (PPL) stipulates that in procurement activities involving conceptual project proposals, companies should bid only with codes, and the identity of participants should not be revealed to the jury members, to avoid influencing the Evaluation Commission. In the tender for the construction of the Kosovo Opera and Ballet Theatre, the ministry had accepted bids with the names of the companies, while the ministry’s Evaluation Commission declared the bid with the code 6842 as the winner, although the submitted documentation revealed the name and logo of the company.
These claims have been confirmed by the Public Procurement Review Body (PPRB), which in its decision numbered 736/23, found that the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, as the contracting authority, violated the Public Procurement Law by awarding the first prize to the economic operator with code 6842, who had disclosed its identity in the bid.
Following the decision of the PPRB, the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports announced the decision to cancel this procurement activity, marking the fourth failure of this project, which had initially started in December 2009.
You can read the full article here.