A TOTAL of 34 deals worth €161,000 overall have been carried out since the Electronic Marketplace was launched three months ago, said Interior Minister Robert Kaliňák at a press conference on November 3.
“We’ve carried out the first test purchases and we can state that it was worth launching this initiative, which appears to be a breakthrough for Slovakia,” said Kaliňák, as quoted by the TASR newswire. “This anti-corruption tool has saved €20,954 for public finances over the first weeks, which equals 11 percent of the total original cost.”
All together, 1,482 suppliers and 1,008 customers have already registered on the Electronic Contractual System (EKS) website. The first entity to purchase something through the marketplace was Comenius University in Bratislava, which bought alpha radiation counters, with the total savings reaching 15 percent, according to Kaliňák.
The Electronic Marketplace is the first part of EKS which is an obligatory tool for public institutions for purchasing ordinary goods and services, including construction work up to a certain price limit, TASR reported.
It will provide space for the state, municipalities, Higher Territorial Units and organisations coming under their remit if the commission reaches at least €1,000, no more than €134,000 in the case of the state, or a maximum of €207,000 in the case of other procurers. The upper financial limit for construction work has been set at €5.186 million.
The EKS will feature two more tools: the Dynamic Purchasing System, which will make sure that public tenders feature as many suppliers as possible, and Electronic Process Support, which will provide information and explanations.
The supplier of the system is a consortium of Anasoft, Slovak Telekom and the News Agency of the Slovak Republic (TASR).
“This tool removes any opportunities to manipulate the results of public procurements,” said Fico, as quoted by TASR. “The Electronic Marketplace isn’t only a tool for making public procurements more efficient, it’s also the most transparent way ever of purchasing with public resources in Slovakia, and it also saves money.”
Source: TASR
Compiled by Roman Cuprik from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
