The Public Procurement Office (UVO) is claiming that the former management of the Ministry of Interior under Robert Kalinak (Smer-SD) violated the law by limiting two tenders.
The two tenders for electronic ID cards and an information system worth over EUR 57 million in total would have been won by different companies if the law had not been broken, says the procurement authority following its three-month investigation started last August.
UVO determined that the contracting authority (Ministry of Interior) fundamentally influenced the outcome of the two tenders. It points chiefly to discriminatory tender conditions, which it feels limited fair competition. Current interior minister Daniel Lipsic says the tenders were manipulated, and under his office they have managed to save around EUR 6 million on the tenders thanks to a negotiated 10% discount.
Robert Kalinak rejects the claims, pointing out that the findings are only preliminary and that the inspection has not yet been completed. He says the discrepancies are merely technical errors, and noted that the other tenderers had not contested the outcome and that the cheapest tender offers had won.
The tender for implementing the system of electronic ID cards worth EUR 39 million was won in 2009 by Hewlett-Packard, and the other tender for EUR 18.5 million by the company Ditec.