The Procurement Review Board has overturned the decision made by the FBiH Banking Agency to award a public relations services contract to a company founded by Slovenians. Interestingly, this company shares the same address in Sarajevo as another firm that has been awarded this tender multiple times before.
On May 10, the BiH Procurement Review Board issued a decision overturning the FBiH Banking Agency's (FBA) selection of the most favorable bidder for public relations and crisis communication services, deeming it illegal.
The FBiH Banking Agency allocated 145,000 KM (without VAT) for public relations and crisis communication services and awarded the contract to “Herman and Partners”, a company from Slovenia that also operates in Sarajevo. The FBiH Banking Agency has been allocating a similar amount for this service for several years. Due to a series of allegations about malfeasances, Fokus.ba investigated this case.
What is in the Register?
According to our findings, the Banking Agency has opted to award the job for 2024 to a company registered in Sarajevo, established by Slovenians, and located at the same Sarajevo address as the company that secured tenders for similar services from 2017 to 2020.
Remarkably, both of these FBA tender winning companies share the same director?!
To elaborate, according to the information obtained from the Court Register of business entities, the company “Herman and partners” d.o.o. Sarajevo was founded by the Ljubljana-based company “Herman & Partnerji”. The director and founder of this Sarajevo-based company is Adi Korić. As per the records, the registered address of “Herman and partners” is Skenderpašina 33 in Sarajevo.
The company “Pristop BH”, established by the Slovenian company “Pristop Skupina” Ljubljana is also found at the same address—Skenderpašina 33, as confirmed by our on-site visit and the data from the Registry of business entities.
In 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, the company “Pristop BH” was awarded tenders by the Banking Agency for public relations and crisis communication services. Particularly noteworthy is that Adi Korić is listed as the director of “Pristop BH” in the Register of business entities.
The aforementioned act of the Procurement Review Board of May 10, which overturns the decision of the FBA, underscores numerous blatant violations of the Law on Public Procurement, as well as several other laws during the execution of this tender. According to the appellant, Public Relations Agency ZPR, the FBA failed to provide an explanation for selecting “Herman and partners” as the most favorable bidder.
Additionally, according to the appeal, the contracting authority failed to conduct a prior market assessment or produce an official record as stipulated by Article 14.a of the Public Procurement Law, as it was not accessible for review during the bid examination process.
Criminal records
During the review of the proposal submitted by the company “Herman and partners”, as outlined in the PRB’s act, the appellant observed that the chosen bidder included VAT despite not being registered as a VAT payer, which is not in line with the Law on VAT. Furthermore, the bidder failed to declare their intention to subcontract, a requirement specified in the tender documentation.
– The statement from Article 45 on pages 13 and 14 of the bid submitted by the selected bidder was provided in a language other than the official language of Slovenia and was executed in Ljubljana. It remains unclear whether the signatory of the statement comprehends its content. Moreover, the certifying authority for the statement is unidentified since the certification is solely in the Slovenian language, lacking translation, which is not in lien with Article 4.1 of the tender documentation, stipulating that offers must be prepared in one of the official languages of Bosnia and Herzegovina- – reads the PRB’s act.
Ultimately, the PRB acknowledged the appellant’s claim that the criminal record certificate did not comply with the tender documentation, as it failed to specify the criminal offenses for which the certificate was requested.
However, the appeal also referred to the failure of the selected company to provide comprehensive certificates on the location and execution of previous contracts, as the dates and venues of their implementation were undisclosed.
Awarding the contract to a company lacking experience in service provision
It is also noteworthy that, once again, (setting aside the suspicious circumstances surrounding the fact that it is a company sharing headquarters with previous tender-winning company and having the same director), the FBA awarded the contract to a company of a Slovenian founder. This company lacks prior experience in providing public relations and crisis communication services within the territory of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, or Bosnia and Herzegovina.
It should be noted that for three consecutive years, from 2021 to 2023, the FBA awarded the same job to the Banja Luka agency Mint d.o.o. However, in the tender for public relations and crisis communication services in 2024, one criterion was changed compared to all previous tenders.
Namely, the FBA has for the first time introduced a new requirement in Article 3.4.1 of the tender documentation for 2024, which outlines the conditions regarding technical and professional ability. This requirement demands that potential bidders demonstrate previous experience in concluding contracts for services provided at an “international/regional level”. Such a requirement was not present in previous tenders before.
Fokus.ba addressed the FBiH Banking Agency with an official inquiry, asking, among other things, why this change was introduced in the latest tender. We also inquired whether the entity “Herman and partners” has provided services at the international/regional level, given the available information indicating that its services have been limited to the national level i.e. to Slovenia?
We neither received a response to our inquiry regarding the change introduced in the latest tender, nor answers about the appellant's allegations. Additionally, there was no response to our question regarding the extent to which the Slovenian bidder with experience in Slovenia is more qualified for a job in BiH i.e. Federation of BiH compared to several domestic agencies that applied to tender.
Response from the FBA
In response to Fokus’ inquiry, the FBA stated that they are not authorized to provide any comments on the executive decisions of the BiH Procurement Review Board.
– Considering that the public procurement procedure is still ongoing, no information regarding the examination, clarification, or evaluation of bids can be disclosed to any party until the final decision is communicated to all participants. It is clear from your inquiry that you possess information that, at this stage, may only be accessible to bidders directly involved in the procedure, in addition to the Procurement Review Board and the Agency. We want to emphasize that the Agency, as the contracting authority, is committed to acting consistently and consciously within the legal framework governing our activities in the area of public procurement. Our decisions are made in accordance with the law and regulations, and in the best interest of the institution, independent of any external pressures from participants, whether through the media or otherwise.– said the FBA.
Our portal attempted to reach out to Adi Korić, listed as the director of the companies “Herman and partners” and “Pristop BH”, but our calls and messages went unanswered.
