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Concentrated purchases set a world record / The Vlora Hospital tender is awarded with the last penny of the limit fund

2024-09-16 19:23:00, Aktualitet CNA

Concentrated purchases set a world record / The Vlora Hospital tender is awarded

Administrator of OPB, Arlinda Pogaj

On June 21 of this year, the Central Purchasing Operator announced a tender worth 181,086,720 ALL or 1.81 million euros for the laundry service for the Regional Hospital of Vlora. The limited procedure according to the type of framework agreement provided that the private company that would be declared the winner in the competition would perform this service for a period of 48 months or 4 years.

The race took place a week ago, exactly on September 9. Only one offer was presented by the company ABI'S, which previously carried the name DEVIS. The offer of this company was exactly 181,086,720, that is, to the last penny of the predetermined limit fund. One day later, on September 10, the Central Purchase Operator declared the company the winner for the 1.81 million euro contract. This is an unprecedented case, not only in Albania, but also in the wider world.

Concentrated purchases set a world record / The Vlora Hospital tender is awarded

In general, the main signals of corruption in a public tender are the low number of companies competing in it and the values ??offered near the limit fund. But often the companies that have won the tender without being developed yet offer a margin of 97 to 99.99 percent of the limit fund. But in this case, a new record has been set. The tender was only with one participating company and the offer of this company was exactly the limit fund, without reducing a penny from the limit value.

Centralized Purchasing Operator

In September of last year, the Albanian government decided to create the Centralized Purchasing Operator. With the status of the JSC, this operator was tasked with carrying out all tenders for purchases, goods and works for the Prime Minister's Office, ministries and dependent institutions. According to the government, this would reduce corruption in public tenders as well as improve efficiency in procurement procedures.

"We have taken another step forward. This majority has voted with the proposal of the government to create the public company of the operator of Centralized Purchases, which officially started work on April 25, and it will carry out all the procurements of the ministries and their dependent institutions. To put it bluntly, no minister and no dependency structure will have anything to do with tenders, but will deal only with sectoral policies. This society is built according to the best European models, it will be assisted by a European partner society," declared Rama in May of this year.

But from the moment this initiative was announced, the opposition opposed the concentration of tenders in one hand. "Now that Rama found that plums are being eaten behind his back by his ministers, he set up the "Concentrated Purchasing Operator" a few days ago, so that the plums can only be eaten in one hand," declared Petrit Vasili from the Freedom Party.

"Clan" Gonxha

The Central Purchase Operator is 100 percent owned by the Ministry of Economy and is administered by a group of people who were part of the staff of Minister Blendi Gonxhja.

According to the company extract, the administrator of OPB is Arlinda Pogaj. Previously, Mrs. Poga held the post of lawyer in the General Directorate of Road Transport Services. While the following have been appointed to the Supervisory Council: Sokol Ismaili, Sokol Bardhi, Lira Pipa, Alketa Përnaska, Edmond Ahmeti and Elinda Pupla. The vast majority of Council members also come from DPSHTRR.

The Central Procurement Operator is practically the largest contracting authority in Albania. According to the law, this company compulsorily performs all tenders for the purchase of vehicles, offices, uniforms, insurance, food and so on in the central institutions of the state. It is about a procurement volume of hundreds of millions of euros per year. But if the tenders will all be like this one for the laundry service in public hospitals, the Operator of Centralized Purchases risks becoming the biggest machine for the abuse of public money in Albania./ Kapitali.al