Six institutions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in the last two years, spent almost seven million BAM for air travel.
This is shown by the performance audit, which was conducted by the Audit Office of BiH on the topic of “Purchase of airline tickets in the institutions of BiH”, and in which it is stated that the institutions of BiH annually allocate millions of marks for air transport services, but at the same time, they do not ensure the best services for the money paid.
The audit, as it goes on to say, was carried out with the aim of examining whether the existing activities of purchasing airline tickets in the institutions of BiH ensure efficient and economical use of budget funds.
“The audit shows that the institutions from the sample (six institutions) do not ensure timely procurement of airline tickets and do not use the benefits of market competition to ensure the best value for money,” the document reads, adding that the institutions mostly conclude a framework agreement with one supplier based on criteria “lowest price – price of agency service (commission)”.
“However, it has been established that this way does not always ensure the best value for money. The very fact that institutions ultimately purchase airline tickets, and not the agency’s service (commission), which often makes up a negligible part of the price of an airline ticket, calls into question the award of a contract based on this criteria,” says the performance audit.
It is further stated that this situation results in a weaker interest of bidders to participate in the procedures for purchasing airline tickets and the purchase of airline tickets at higher prices compared to the prices that would be achieved in an environment where market competition operates, which, they claim, calls into question the expediency of the implementation public purchase.
“The air ticket market is very dynamic and requires fast action, and the existing legal solutions do not recognize procurement in a dynamic environment. The aforementioned creates a problem for the institutions of BiH that causes the impossibility of fulfilling the basic principles of public procurement according to the model that is currently in use when purchasing air tickets,” the document states. , which was sent to the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Audit Office with recommendations regarding the improvement of the management of the air ticket procurement process.
