ABOUT one third of public procurement contracts distributed by the central, regional and local governments in Slovakia last year were not supervised or audited by another state body, according to a study by corruption watchdog Transparency International Slovakia (TIS).
The NGO said that Sk36 billion of more than Sk108 billion in public orders were issued under Public Procurement Act provisions that freed them from supervision, the Hospodárske noviny daily wrote.
"These [orders] concerned mainly minor purchases of goods and services or classified procurements that do not fall under the terms of the Act," said TIS President Emília Sičáková-Beblavá.
TIS believes the scope of classified orders should be narrowed. "There is a great room for improvement," Sičáková-Beblavá said.
The Robert Fico government has said that the state paid 30 to 40 percent more than it should for public procurement orders, and has promised to tighten spending.
