2023-09-15 14:14:00
Increasing the threshold from which CTE approval is required from 2 million lei, excluding VAT, to 5 million lei, excluding VAT, for purchases financed from European or national funds that involve an IT component will lead to a reduction of up to 4 weeks of the public procurement process, claims the Ministry of Digitalization in a response to HotNews.ro.
IT public contractsPhoto: Yakobchuk / Dreamstime.com
The Ministry of Digitization, led by Bogdan Ivan (PSD), sent to HotNews.ro the reasons why the Government recently eliminated the technical opinion of the Economic Technical Committee for all IT purchases under one million euros.
Many projects might be affected by unjustified delays
The Ministry claims that most procurements in the public sector have an IT component and obtaining this approval would have led to unjustified delays and the possible loss of European funds from PNRR and POCIDIF.
- We reproduce the Ministry’s explanations in full:
“The funding programs through which we will build the digital infrastructure of the Romanian state and develop electronic public services have a very tight implementation schedule. In order to benefit concretely from the funds from PNRR and POCIDIF, an optimization of the internal procedures of the administration was needed.
The difficulties in using these funds might have created, in a cascade, generalized delays in accessing the funds, in the effective implementation of the projects and in the use by the Romanians of the deliverables of these projects.
The Technical-Economic Committee for the Information Society (CTE) is a body without legal personality, which assists the Authority for Digitization of Romania in order to develop and monitor the implementation of the Government’s policy in the field of information technology and information society.
CTE approves the technical specifications related to feasibility studies, technical projects and specifications as follows:
- a) Before the start of the procedures for awarding the public procurement contract, in the case of financing projects that have a specific component for information technology and communications with a nominal or cumulative value greater than 2,000,000 lei, excluding VAT, financed from national funds;
- b) before the submission of the financing request to the competent authorities, as well as before the start of the procedure for awarding the public procurement contract, in the case of financing projects that have a specific information technology and communications component with a nominal or cumulative value greater than 2,000 .000 lei, without VAT, financed from European funds.
Considering that, in the current activity of the public sector, most purchases aimed at developing the administrative capacity of institutions contain an IT component, many projects might be affected by unjustified delays in terms of purchases and, implicitly, in the operationalization of deliverables for citizens.
The increase in the threshold from which the CTE’s approval is required from 2 million lei, excluding VAT, to 5 million lei, excluding VAT, for purchases financed from European or national funds that involve an IT component aims to reduce the bureaucracy associated with these procedures.
We saved between 2 and 4 weeks in the public procurement process by increasing this threshold.
In the CTE, not only investments in infrastructures and IT systems are approved, but absolutely all investments that had an IT component, regardless of their final objective.
We managed to optimize the intervals for conducting purchases, as well as eliminating a procedure that, many times, was only auxiliary to the concrete deliverables of a project.
It was essential to reduce the time taken by contracting authorities to complete these procedures, especially in the context where EU grants have a strict implementation timetable.
Through the GD proposed by MCID, we offer more flexibility to the contracting authorities, reducing the time needed to implement projects.”, supports the Ministry of Digitization.
What does the Ministry answer to those who claim that the measure would facilitate theft and embezzlement of public money
- “The legislation specific to public procurement remains in force and must be strictly observed in the conduct of procurement carried out through European financing. All contracting authorities are still responsible for the correctness of their own purchases.
- Contracts will not be awarded more easily, they will have to comply with the public procurement process. Through this GD, we eliminated an additional step in public procurement procedures,” the Ministry of Digitization also states.
All public contracts, financed from the budget or with EU funds, which have an IT&C component of less than 5 million lei (without VAT), will no longer need the opinion of the Technical and Economic Committee (CTE) before launching the procedure of acquisition, according to a Government Decision published on Friday, September 15, in the Official Gazette.
- For details, read: Green light for IT purchases under one million euros, without the technical approval of the Technical and Economic Committee – the GD published in the Official Gazette
Photo source: Yakobchuk / Dreamstime.com
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