The reports of the Audit Office of the Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) contain almost the same information every year. Institutions are called in vain to approach their work responsibly, taking into account that they spend citizens’ money to do their job. But year after year, the approach of a good host is lacking.
Namely, the aim of the public procurement audit is to examine whether the activities of BiH institutions are sufficient to achieve an effective system of action. The audit shows that BiH institutions have not taken enough action in their capacity as competent institutions to achieve an efficient system in recent years.
It is important to mention that (in) activities of institutions call into question the meaning and purpose of the public procurement system, and the improvement of the process requires a maximum commitment to the principles of economy, efficiency, and effectiveness, as well as strengthening the responsibility of the competent institutions.
The findings and recommendations of the institutions, which have been made public and can be found on the website of the BiH Audit Office in conducting public procurement, point out that they are acting literally illegally and that in the last three years over out of over 600 appeals against the procedure, close to 300 of them were accepted, Klix.ba writes.
Almost 20 percent of the total planned public procurement procedures were initiated late, access to information is difficult and procurements are carried out without previously conducted needs analyzes.
“It is necessary, first of all, for the institutions of the law enforcement system to raise the issue of responsibility of those who allowed budget money to be spent without financial discipline since the lack of response to audit recommendations is a fertile ground for non-transparency and illegal spending of money,” the report of the Office from September 2021 states.
In analyzing the execution of the budget for 2020, the auditors gave a qualified opinion because, as they state, the position of fixed assets in the balance sheet is not realistically presented, that is, it is underestimated by an unknown amount due to the lack of recording of certain fixed assets and the unresolved status of state property.
It is not much better at the level of the Federation of BiH (FBiH) either. A few days ago, the Audit Office published a report on how efficient the administrative bodies are when it comes to resolving complaints.
It was found that there are significant delays in resolving cases on appeals and the Federal Ministry of Finance resolved only 1 percent of appeals within the legal deadline. The report states that the competent ministries do not monitor the delays in their work at all.
What the institutions do and how they spend budget money is clear to everyone. Citizens are generally skeptical and confidence in the work of public administration is low. It is obvious that the same will continue in the years ahead, since the sanctions, although they exist on paper, are still not applied. If private-sector employees are fired for failing to perform their duties and obligations, why not change the laws on civil servants that would change the view that there is nothing harder than getting fired in the civil service?
E.Dz.
