The Court of Auditors calls on the new government of Madeira to comply with public procurement rules

On Tuesday, the Court of Auditors warned the incoming government of Madeira to comply with the rules of the public procurement regime, highlighting that several violations were found in the autonomous region, especially during the exceptional regime created during the pandemic.

The warning comes in a report published on Tuesday, which the Court of Auditors (TdC) said is intended to be “a contribution to the improvement of public administration and the sustainability of public finances in the Autonomous Region of Madeira” (RAM) at the start of the new legislature, following regional elections that on Sunday brought victory to the NDP/SDS-CDU/PP coalition, albeit to the MP with an absolute majority.

In the report, TdC highlighted that its audits and pre-screening of contracts awarded to RAM “identified deficiencies that need to be corrected”, while the Regional Office of the Madeira Court of Auditors (SRMTC) refused to grant a previous visa for several contracts awarded over a four-year period period from 2019 to 2023, “based on irregularities in the public procurement regime.”

He also stressed that the emergency public procurement regime established as part of the fight against Covid-19 “has raised risks for the management of public money due to systematic recourse to less competitive procedures and shortcomings in the justification for recourse to less competitive procedures and choices.” relevant suppliers.”

According to TdC, contracting under this exceptional regime “has exposed shortcomings that may jeopardize” “healthy and fair competition to achieve the public interest”, equal treatment of all economic operators, and transparency and impartiality to achieve the public interest.

“There were also situations where amounts were paid in advance, which increased the risk of supply shortages or payments being made without adequate compensation,” he said, noting that failures were found “in basic controls” to prevent the possible misappropriation of goods compliant and timely assessment of needs, monitoring deliveries and timely confirmation of delivery of goods and cross-checking of consumable documents.

In the document, TdC once again recommends that contracting authorities “comply with public procurement rules by applying CCP (Public Contracts Code) discipline, in particular with regard to the formulation of requirements in specifications, giving preference to limited pre-qualification competitions.” when, taking into account the needs to be satisfied, it is considered necessary to establish minimum requirements for measuring the technical capabilities of economic agents operating in the market.”

Among other recommendations, TdC calls for all mandatory publications and correct completion on the government contracts portal, as well as mandatory verification of the absence of conflicts of interest, promotion of broad access to economic operators, compliance with the criteria established in the Civil Procedure Code for the award of contracts to organizations and compliance with contract term limits. in order to comply with legal regulations and protect public interests.

TdC also calls on the future government of Madeira to promote the “adequate management of awarded contracts” and guarantee “effective monitoring of their execution, especially the works awarded under the relevant projects.”

It also warns that the start of public works must be coordinated with the “effective availability of treasury to meet contractual deadlines and payment plans” and that the purchase of IT equipment must have prior approval from the member of the regional government responsible for areas of finance “when what is at stake is assumption of multi-year costs, as well as a preliminary technical opinion” of the competent authority.