The Ministry of Health has calculated the fund of 600 million leks for the supply of hospitals with anti-covid protective equipment, but some companies have offered 100 million leks in one of this year's tenders. For Aranita Brahaj, director of Open Data Albania, this tender and the management of the pandemic situation in the country demonstrate mismanagement by the Government.
In July, the Public Procurement Agency announced a tender with a limit fund of 600 million leks, or 5 million euros for the purchase of items for protective measures in dealing with the pandemic situation. 12 companies entered the competition, while the procedure was reviewed at the end of September, where 5 companies out of 10 that submitted economic bids qualified.
In value, half of these offers did not exceed 200 million leks. Today, when the contract for the supply of hospitals with protective equipment, according to the procurement in question has not been concluded yet, only one company is qualified. The latter has received the green light from the Public Procurement Commission, following a complaint that was reviewed a week ago.
Aranita Brahaj, director of AIS, tells Euronews Albania, that the procedure for this contract was wrong from the beginning, as the calculations were not made according to directives from abroad.
"The directives that have been from all international organizations in the case of Covid purchases, have been to create inter-institutional teams to create opportunities for smart and efficient purchases in a timely manner," said Ms. Brahaj.
According to Brahaj, the most serious alternative for disaster procurement should be different from standard procedures.
"Estimated cost with profit margin, so if the unit today on the stock exchange or in the markets, is at this certain value, then let us add a value with a satisfactory profit margin for the company that offers this commodity, but not to have a price fixed which in July is very high, but in December it can be as much as half or as much as a quarter ", she emphasizes.
So the limit fund so high is already followed by mismanagement of financial funds. For Brahaj, the contract requested in July at best could be concluded in December, while this case is also read as an example of pandemic mismanagement.
"They decided with a short-term view, which makes you see only the situation of July, without looking at it in the long run, then the CPC made the same mistake, defending the standards against this limit fund. We are in a situation where the whole pandemic is mismanaged. The government and the Ministry of Health have had narrow and non-objective positions. "They have not tried to create smart commissions to make smart purchases in real-time", declared Mrs. Brahaj.