The 100 biggest public procurement contracts signed in the last five years (2010-2014) amount to total of 57 billion MKD, i.e. 933 million EUR. These 100 contracts alone account for 22% of all funds spent under public procurements in the country over the five-year period analysed. In this period, total of 110,000 public procurement contracts were signed, by means of which 1,300 state institutions have spent a total of 4.3 billion EUR on public procurements. The 100 biggest contracts were signed between 33 state institutions and 60 companies, which is indicative of the high concentration of large scale contracts, both in terms of contracting authorities and in terms of companies as suppliers.
Individual values of contracts ranked “Top 100” range from 2.8 to 104 million EUR. In that, dominant are public procurements in the field of energy and construction works.
State institutions that have signed the 100 biggest contracts include: JSC ELEM, Department for General and Common Affairs at the Government, ministries, AEC, Directorate for Compulsory Reserves of Oil and Oil Derivatives, PE State Roads, PTE Skopje, the City of Skopje, municipalities Cair and Strumica.
Biggest public procurement contracts
1. The biggest public procurement contract in the last five years was signed between JSC Macedonian Power Plants (ELEM) and the Germany-based company BABCOCK BORSING STEINMULLER for modernization of boilers at the thermal power plant in Bitola according to the turnkey principle. This contract was signed in 2011, for a period of three years and in the value of 104 million EUR. In comparison, on annual basis all 80 municipalities in the country, without the City of Skopje, spend around 100 million EUR for public procurements, i.e. less than the value of this single contract.
JSC ELEM spends the most on coal excavation for the needs of MEC Bitola / Photo credit: JSC ELEM
2. Second-ranked is the tender procedure for two-year contract organized by JSC ELEM for excavation of coal and slag at mining location Brod-Gneotino and signed in 2012, which concerns engagement of workers and machinery for coal excavation and transport provided by the private company PELISTER from Bitola.
3. JSC ELEM also appears as contracting authority in the third-ranked contract, signed with the same company, PELISTER from Bitola, for the same procurement subject, but different performance period, i.e. 2014-2016. By means of this contract, JSC ELEM engaged 450 to 550 workers and excavation equipment for 3,900,000 tons of coal, which should be transported at distances of 2,500 – 3,000 meters.
4. The fourth position is reserved for another contract signed by JSC ELEM. This time, the contract concerns services related to coal and slug excavation from landslide at microlocation – 3, that is part of the mining site Suvodol – MEC Bitola, and includes loading of crushed coal on ITU 2 transporter from the coal intermodal transport technology system. This contract was signed with the Skopje-based company TRANSMET, in duration of 36 months, i.e. by the end of 2016.
5. The string of biggest contracts signed by JSC ELEM is disrupted by the Ministry of Culture, i.e. its contract on performance of construction, craftsmen, interior and installation works at the building called Grand Concert Hall of the Macedonian Philharmonics. This contract was signed with the Austrian company STRABAG AG in 2014 and should be implemented within a period of 16 months.
6. Sixth position on “Top 100” is held by the contract of the Department for General and Common Affairs at the Government of the Republic of Macedonia. Under this procurement contract in the value of 20 million EUR, the Skopje-based construction company GRANIT is responsible for performance of construction and craftsmen works on public administration building and the Faculty of Drama Arts.
7. Seventh-ranked is another contract signed by JSC ELEM with TRANSMET LLP from Skopje, again for coal and slug excavation at landslide on microlocation – 3 at the mining site Suvodol – MEC Bitola. This contract was signed in early 2012, for a period of 24 months.
8. Eight position is held by the contract on construction of the Ferris Wheel with accompanying facilities and bridge in Skopje. This contract was signed in 2014 with the Skopje-based construction company BETON, in the amount of 18.3 million EUR.
9. The contract signed between the Agency for Electronic Communications (AEC) and GRANIT for construction of the antenna system on radiofrequency control and monitoring on the territory of the Republic of Macedonia is ranked ninth on the list of biggest contracts. This contract was signed in 2013, in the value of 17.6 million EUR.
10. Top 10 from 100 biggest contracts also include PTE Skopje’s contract from 2014 signed with JSC MAKPETROL for procurement of diesel fuel. This contract is worth 16.7 million EUR and concerns diesel fuel supply for a period of 24 months.
Which institutions have signed the biggest contracts?
ELEM is the leader on this list of institutions both, in terms of value (41%) and in terms of number (23%) of contracts from “Top 100”. This state-owned joint stock company has signed as many as 23 from 100 biggest contracts, in total value of 384 million EUR.
Second-ranked on the list of institutions with the highest number of contracts is the Department for General and Common Affairs. This department has signed as many as 10 contracts from “Top 100”, in total value of 91 million EUR and share of 9.8%.
Equal number of contracts has the Ministry of Health which, by means of two tender procedures for procurement of insulin, glucagon, insulin needles, diabetes test stripes and insulin pumps, as well as supplies, covering the periods August 2012 – August 2014 and August 2014 – August 2016, has signed total of five contracts with different companies, all of which are ranked among the 100 biggest contracts.
Among local contracting authorities, the list of biggest contracts includes the Public Transport Enterprise Skopje and the City of Skopje.
Analysed in terms of contract holders, the top 100 list according to the number of tenders awarded is dominated by the construction company GRANIT JSC Skopje, but according to the value of contracts, the top position is reserved for the Bitola-based construction company PELISTER LLP. More specifically, GRANIT appears as contract holder of 8 from “Top 100” public procurements, in total value of around 71 million EUR, but PELISTER from Bitola has signed 4 contracts in total amount of around 110 million EUR. In that, PELISTER and Markovski Company, both from Bitola, are the only companies which have signed all their public procurement contracts from “Top 100” with the same contracting authority, i.e. JSC ELEM.
Having in mind the fact that the biggest contracts were signed for construction works, the list of biggest contract holders from “Top 100” also features companies in the construction business such as TRANSMET, BETON, STRABAG, BAUER BG, and BETON-STIP.
This research also developed individual rank lists for 10 biggest contracts for each of the last 5 years.
This research was developed by means of collecting and processing data on public procurement contracts signed in the period 2010-2014 and published in the Electronic Public Procurement System. They were ranked according to the criterion on value of individual contracts.
