The National Museum in Leskovac will buy the "damage" for 19.000 euros in a tender according to the terms of which only "Auto Čačak" could participate. The museum tried to explain to "Vreme" why exactly they need such a car
The National Museum in Leskovac will supplement its fleet with a new "damage" for which citizens will pay slightly more than 19.000 euros. Only the company "Auto Čačak", close to the Serbian Progressive Party, came forward as the only bidder at the tender.
According to the portal "Resetka", therefore it should not be surprising that no other bidder except "Auto Čačka" could respond to the requested conditions in the tender.
The museum was looking for a white metallic car with an electronic vehicle stability system, mirrors with heaters, a trip computer, a radio with four speakers and a rear parking sensor, exactly defined length, width and a guarantee of four years on the engine and 12 years on the body.
National Museum's response
We asked the National Museum in Leskovac why this institution needs a car with the characteristics listed in the tender.
In the answer we received, it was stated that the amount in the museum's budget for the purchase of a car was 2,3 million dinars, and that the main criterion for the selection was the price, which could not exceed the specified amount, "bearing in mind that it is territorially competent museum that includes the city of Leskovac, and the municipalities of Bojnik, Medveđa, Vlasotince, Lebane and Crna Trava. The area covered by the Leskovac museum is 2.800 km2", the museum states.
"Performing a market survey prior to procurement, we determined that several car dealerships have white metallic cars in stock (that meet the price criteria) and that they can be delivered within the delivery time stipulated in the contract. For safety reasons, we requested that the car have the basic safety elements that modern cars have, including an electronic stability system, heated rearview mirrors, trip computer, rear parking sensors (to keep the car undamaged for as long as possible). The four-speaker radio is also an integral part of every car, and has its role in security when connecting to mobile phones," reads the museum's response.
As for the exact dimensions of the vehicle, the National Museum states that "the exact length and width are defined due to the multi-functionality of the car."
"The car is used not only for transporting employees, but also for museum exhibitions." By folding down the rear seats, space is obtained for the transportation of objects and forex that form an integral part of the exhibition. The standard width of the forex at our exhibitions is 1 m, and the length varies from 1 to 1,7 meters, so they fit into the space of a car with two passengers. In order to protect their investment and the interests of the museum, guarantees were requested for the engine and the bodywork," the answer states.
Transparency: There is no basis for the reaction of the Public Procurement Office
Lawyer Miloš Đorđević from the Transparency Serbia organization tells Vreme that public procurement for cars is specific.
"Most often it happens that the customer specifies the exact characteristics of the car, which are also in the prospectus itself. This happens as an established practice. In order to enable wider competition, it is better to state the minimum requirements that a certain car must fulfill", explains Đorđević and adds that in this case there is no basis for the reaction of the Public Procurement Office.
"The customer himself has the right to decide what exactly he wants to purchase." This is more a question of expediency than irregularities that the Public Procurement Office could react to. They will not even engage in it because it is not within their competence. "Perhaps the State Audit Institution could eventually react, but fundamentally it is very difficult to dispute with the client what exactly he wants", adds Đorđević.
In Pirot, "stelvanje" for the company that built Prokop
This is neither the first nor the last tender under scrutiny. This month, it was decided through a public tender that the City Administration in Pirot will pay more than 30.000 euros for a new Suzuki vehicle.
Citizens' money will buy it from the Belgrade company "Euro Sumar", whose majority owner is the well-known businessman Branislav Grujić. The requests that the City Administration had regarding the vehicle, similar to the case of the National Museum in Leskovac and the company "Auto Čačak", were written as if the plan was exactly "Suzuki Jimny", so a typographical error was also copied from the website of the selected company , the portal writes "Southern News".
Engine capacity of exactly 1.462 cc, gasoline as fuel, three doors, gloss black spare wheel cover, UV protective tape on the windshield, tinted windows, electrically adjustable matte black exterior mirrors, immobilizer system, BAS, TPMS, Hill hold, Hill descent control, aluminum rims in graphite black color - these are some of the characteristics of the "Suzuki Jimny" vehicle.
It was precisely these characteristics that the Pirot City Administration demanded in the tender. One part of the equipment is even written with an identical typo on the Euro Sumar website - "multifunctional steering wheel with controls for audio, bluetooth (hands free), cruise control, speed limiter". They also asked for the vehicle to be in "bluish black" shade, which is one of the shades of the "Suzuki Jimny" model.
The demands of the Pirot City Administration, however, are greater than those of the National Museum in Leskovac. Therefore, in this case, 2.957.669 dinars will be allocated for the car without VAT, or 3.549.203 dinars with VAT, which is about 30.000 euros.
Euro Sumar doo is a company from Belgrade, whose director and 25% co-owner is Dušan Đurašević, while the majority owner (75%) is Branislav Grujić, a well-known businessman and one of the co-owners of the Belgrade company Railway City, which was chosen as a private partner four years ago Republic for the construction of the "Prokop" railway station building. At the time, the media wrote about experts' warnings that the legal procedure was not followed during their election.
Niš is no exception.
Portal "Southern News" he wrote in December last year about another suspicious tender. Namely, the Administration of the Pantelej municipality of Niš announced that they will pay more than 19.000 euros for a new "dacia duster" for leasing, and that they will buy the car from Auto Center Krunić from Niš, one of the authorized distributors for that brand of vehicle in Serbia.
The municipality of Pantelei required a passenger vehicle produced in 2023, with a power of 67 kilowatts, with a EURO 6 gasoline engine, six speeds, white color, with four doors, five passenger seats and an SUV body.
The equipment required, among other things, a leather-wrapped gearbox, a tank capacity of 50 liters, manual air conditioning, rear parking sensors, a touch screen, height-adjustable headrests, ISOFIX system, electric front and rear windows, tinted windows , operating instructions in Serbian. The size of the tires has been specified, as well as the length of the vehicle - at least 4.341 millimeters, height of at least 1.682 millimeters and width of at least 1.804 millimeters. They also wanted the wheelbase to be at least 2.673.
The only one who met the conditions for such specific requirements is Krunić from Nis, so it was decided that they will sell the car to the Municipality at a price of 1.870.541,96 dinars without VAT, i.e. 2.244.649,65 dinars with VAT, which is more than 19.000 euros.
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