In mid-May, on May 16 to be exact, Belgrade Mayor Aleksandar Šapić presented the City of Belgrade vest at a press conference, which will be worn by all employees of public enterprises, as well as contractors and subcontractors of public works.
This will enable, he explained, citizens to know exactly which works the City is behind, and the ultimate goal is "responsibility, acceleration and efficiency in the execution of public works."
Shortly after the vests were announced, i.e. already in May, workers of public companies, above all "Čistoće" and "Zelenil", could be seen on the streets of Belgrade wearing blue vests with the coat of arms of Belgrade over their regular work uniform.
And there would be nothing in dispute in this if the tender for the procurement of these vests had not been completed until the end of June, and the question arises as to how these vests were already distributed to employees in some public companies in May.
For one vest, 6.372 dinars
As can be seen on the Public Procurement portal, the procurement of 6.535 universal vests with the emblem of the city of Belgrade for the needs of several public companies was launched on May 8, when a public call for tenders was published, and the deadline for tenders was June 8.
And with the winners of the tender, the Service for Centralized Public Procurement will conclude a framework agreement, in the name and on behalf of 14 Belgrade public companies: "Arena Beograd", PUK "Belgrade Park", "Directorate for Construction Land and Construction of Belgrade", PUK "Belgrade Power Plant", Public Water Management Company "Beogradvode", PUK "Beograd Put", PUK "Belgrade Water Supply and Sewerage", PUK "Gradska Chisoća", PUK "Zelenilo Beograd", PUK "Public Lighting", PUK "Parking Service", JP "Belgrade Fortress", JP "Putevi Beograda", JP "City Housing".
Framework agreement
The framework agreement establishes the conditions under which individual contracts for the procurement of universal vests will be concluded, and the documentation states that the framework agreement, which will be concluded, does not represent an obligation for individual clients, that is, public companies, to conclude public procurement contracts. The obligation will arise by concluding an individual contract on public procurement.
"The supplier is obliged to deliver the goods on the basis of the individual public procurement contract concluded between the individual customer and the supplier, in accordance with the framework agreement." The supplier is obliged to deliver the contracted goods within a maximum of 30 days from the date of conclusion of the individual contract. Delivery is made on working days, at the time agreed by the supplier and the individual customer."
The Office for Centralized Public Procurement and Procurement Control of Belgrade chose the companies DES 2020 and Moderativa for sewing, branding and delivery of universal vests with the emblem of the city of Belgrade, through a framework agreement worth 41,6 million dinars (including VAT).
In the procurement specification, a quantity of 6.535 vests is given, which means that the approximate price of one vest is 5.310 without VAT, or 6.372 dinars with VAT.
The framework agreement was signed on June 22.
The company DES 2020 from Majur near Šabac, according to the decision on the conclusion of the framework agreement, will be in charge of sewing and making vests, transport and delivery to the address, while the company Moderativa, which is a subcontractor, will be in charge of printing on the vest.
According to the data from the financial report for 2022, which can be found on APR, the company DES 2020 has two employees.
No answer
The "Vremena" portal sent questions to the office of the mayor of Belgrade about how it is possible that the workers of public companies were already wearing these vests, even though the tender procedure had not been completed, but we did not receive an answer.
We also tried to get in touch with the company DES 2020, however, on the website of the Agency for Economic Registers, in the information about this company in the contact section, only an email address was left, which is not correct.
Councilors of the City Assembly remained without an answer about the procurement of universal vests with the logo of the city of Belgrade.
Member of the Democratic Party in the Assembly of Belgrade, Milan Aleksić, tells the "Vremana" portal that he asked the city manager Miroslav Čučković about the purchase of these vests at the session of the city assembly, but that there were no answers.
"I asked what was very clear, which is that it is probably a set-up job. How is it possible that the vests appeared in the middle of May, and the offers were accepted until June 8th. In that context, I asked if it was a rigged tender, especially since the specifications of the advertised tender listed some very specific things that indicate that those vests obviously already exist, that is, that the company that produces them already has them. It was about the fact that the specification stated what color they should be, how many parts they should have, exactly how long the zipper should be... So it's not that we need to get vests, and then we will choose the best offer and first, let's see what kind of vests a company makes and offers, but it's about vests that already exist", says Aleksić.
Aleksić adds that he asked the authorities why it was necessary to purchase them now, as well as with what money they were paid for, because such a purchase was not planned anywhere, neither in the budget nor in the recently adopted budget rebalancing.
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