Infringements have been ascertained in one third of the more than 1,500 public procurement procedures, amounting to 1.2 billion Leva, which have undergone review, according to the Institute for Market Economics which cites the 2020 annual report of the Public Financial Inspection Agency.

In half of the contracts the violations are significant – inappropriately conducted procedures, conditions set down by the contracting entity which give an advantage or unjustifiably restrict bidders’ participation, price and deadline changes by way of annexes to public procurement contracts, non-awarding of public contracts where all legal grounds are at hand. The experts say that last year saw a drop in the number of tainted contracts.