Corruption complaints harder

At present the filing of complaints is free of charge.

UOHS chairman Petr Rafaj told HN the across-the-board introduction of bails worth 10,000 to 100,000 crowns is necessary.

“Unsuccessful companies often ask for the tender to be checked only because this enables them to threaten the tender organiser, in fact to exact money from him as racketeers,” Rafaj said. Unsubstantiated complaints are the biggest problem accompanying public tenders, he said.

Ivan Doubrava, head of the CE Wood company that has been in dispute with the state over several public tenders, told HN that many companies do not have enough money to deposit the bail, if really introduced.

“This will only enhance unlawful practices on the part of some tender organisers,” Doubrava said.

Doubts about the UOHS´s plan have also been voiced by Radek Pokorny, head of the Czech Association of Competition Lawyers. He said small and medium-sized companies would pay dear for the across-the-board introduction of bails.

David Ondracka, head of the Czech branch of Transparency International (TIC), said the TIC has been filing a number of complaints [against suspected irregular course of tenders], which are definitely far from nonsensical.

Rafaj said the UOHS´s new strategy is to be completed in a month.

He admits that the problem with unsubstantiated complaints could also be partly eliminated if the course of tenders were published on the Internet along with the identity of tender commission members where big orders were at stake, HN writes.

The UOHS also wants to shed light on certain big firms that take a joint strategy as tender participants. “This is a certain type of cartel agreements. I´ll try to uncover such practices, mainly in the construction industry,” Rafaj told HN.

Calling Rafaj´s plan correct, Ondracka said, nevertheless, that he will wait with the praise until after the plan is implemented.

Everyone remembers that quite recently Rafaj himself had a tender for his new office car launched in a way tailored to a single firm that could not but win, HN writes.