The National Audit Office has identified some irregularities in the Ministry of Education, in particular for tender evaluation processes. According to the Auditor, in the procurement activity "Design of a typical prefabricated nursery for 80 children", the evaluation of the offers was carried out 16 days late beyond the legal deadlines, taking the additional deadlines as a basis.

"The process of opening the bids took place on 17.07.2023, while the evaluation was completed on 21.09.2023", says the Audit Report for the Annual Financial Statements of the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation for the year 2023.

Also, in the tender file "Supply of raw materials and equipment of the hairdressing, esthetics profile for carrying out professional practice", in the technical and professional capacities, it is requested that the participating economic operators have contracts for similar supplies, in the three years of the past.

"From the list of completed contracts offered by the winning operator, it can be seen that the supplies were not of a similar nature (the main activity was the publication and printing of materials). The evaluation committee did not prevent this shortcoming and considered this criterion as fulfilled. The contract was concluded on 09.08.2023 in the amount of 117,000 euros", the report states.  

According to ZKA, the main cause of these deficiencies was the malfunctioning of internal controls and the lack of due diligence during the evaluation and contract awarding process.

The impact of delays in the evaluation of tenders, in addition to circumventing the rules, have also affected the delays related to contracts and consequently the postponement of supplies and the receipt of services.

"Also, the assessment not in full compliance with the criteria in the file may result in the selection of bidders who may not be able to fulfill the obligations of the contract in a timely manner and with the expected quality", it is further stated in the report.

In the recommendation of the ZKA, it is stated that 'The Ministry should ensure an effective monitoring through the procurement manager that the evaluation of the offers is completed within the established deadlines, enabling the supplies to be received on time. Also, the evaluations of the offers must be carried out in full accordance with the criteria for technical and professional capacities required in the tender file".

This report resulted in nine recommendations, of which five are new recommendations, three repeated and one partially repeated.