The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) announced a call for the procurement of two passenger cars, of which the estimated value of the upper-middle-class motor vehicle is 111.000 BAM, excluding VAT.
According to the technical specifications, both cars, whose estimated value is 170.000 BAM without VAT, should be black metallic and produced in 2023.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Elmedin Konakovic said in the interview that both cars are being purchased for the needs of the headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Sarajevo.
“The last car was purchased in 2013,” Konakovic says, adding that regulations dictate that a car be replaced every five years or after 150.000 kilometers.
According to the latest available tender documentation of the Ministry about the vehicle insurance from December 2021, the Ministry has an Audi A8L vehicle purchased in 2013 for 155.000 BAM and, among others, a Skoda Superb from 2016 for 50.000 BAM, as well as three other same models purchased in 2015 in 2016, also purchased for 50.000 BAM each. A Volkswagen Passat was purchased for almost 60.000 BAM in 2018.
Konakovic states that the Ministry has complied with the public procurement plan that was adopted in May of this year, and considers that the new procurement is completely justified and grounded, taking into account the work the Ministry deals with.
According to the Rulebook on the conditions of procurement and the way of using official vehicles in the institutions of BiH, the use of upper-middle-class vehicles, with a purchase value of up to 130.000 BAM, is allowed for ministers in the Council of Ministers.
“Of course, spending large sums of money on cars can be considered a kind of luxury. However, we, for whom it is a basic tool for work, understand the importance, especially in the part when important delegations come to us, to leave some impression because, of course, it looks representative. BiH must also take this into account,” Konakovic concluded, Detektor reports.
E.Dz.
