13.8% of public procurements in 2024 had only one bidder

2024-10-11 07:45:05, Aktualitet CNA

Year after year, the indicators of competition in public procurement are decreasing. The percentage of procurements where there was only one bid increased further in 2024.

According to the public procurement database, from the beginning of the year to the first week of July 2024, a total of 18,341 procurement procedures took place, in which 2,540 or 13.8 percent of them had only one offer.

For the entire year 2023, 25,137 procurement procedures were developed and 12.9 percent of them were with only one offer.

More detailed data shows that single-bid procurements were usually insurance services, security, medicine, travel, hotel services, fuel, security equipment, vehicles, etc.

The fundamental principle of public procurement is fair competition between economic operators. In this way, the competition takes place and increases the possibility to procure goods and services at lower and better quality prices. The participation of only one operator offers zero opportunities for price negotiation and also lowers expectations for the quality of the public good or service that the government procures with public funds.

The value of the procurement with only one winner was 6.7 billion lek about 67 million euro in the 7th month of 2024. The procured value for which the winner was announced in the same period was 64 billion lek (64 million euro). Approximately 10 percent of winning procurements were with one competitive bidder.

Albania has digitized its procurement systems. The register of forecasts of public procurement procedures and the register of completed public procurement procedures are prepared electronically and published in the Electronic Procurement System, where they are accessible free of charge by anyone interested and at any time.

Despite investments in technology and transparency, negotiated procurements are increasing year after year and the number of participants in competitions is decreasing.

Sources within APP claimed that the institution has been in crisis for human resources for the past two years. SPAK's investigations and the pressures that must be kept on procurement entities by managers are making the environment increasingly difficult for procurement employees. Sources from APP claimed that staff are resigning, youth are not being offered and those who are working are reluctant to sign.

The public procurement system is always the focus of legal changes and investments for higher transparency, but on the other hand, the concentration of operators in competitions is increasing year after year. The consequences are seen in the results of the competitions where almost all of them end up procuring the limit fund or exceeding it when there is only one participant./ Monitor.al