TIRANA, Albania – A recently concluded public procurement procedure by the Court of Appeals of General Jurisdiction in Tirana has drawn scrutiny over allegations of a pre-determined winner and limited competition.
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| Tirana Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction. |
The contracting authority had set the limit fund at 185,218,365.83 lekë excluding VAT, equivalent to more than 2.2 billion old lekë including VAT.
The winning bid was awarded to the consortium ALGES KONSTRUKSION sh.p.k., owned by Mozart Çela, holding a 58% share, in cooperation with INERTI sh.p.k., owned by Florjan and Halil Muha, holding 42%. The consortium also relied on the technical and financial capacities of SALILLARI sh.p.k.
The winning offer amounted to 180,583,920.83 lekë without VAT, reaching 216,700,705 lekë including VAT.
According to critics of the procedure, the winning bid represented around 97.5% of the maximum available tender value, raising questions over the level of savings achieved for public funds.
Limited Competition Raises Concerns
The tender received only one competing offer, submitted by ZEQILLARI CONSTRUCTION sh.p.k., which offered 182,440,090.34 lekë without VAT.
The difference between the two bids was approximately 1%, with both offers positioned very close to the maximum limit set by the contracting authority.
Critics argue that the small gap between the offers raises questions about whether genuine price competition took place, suggesting that the second bidder may have only served to formally complete the competitive process.
However, the similarity between bids alone does not constitute proof of wrongdoing, and determining whether procurement rules were violated requires examination by the relevant oversight institutions.
The case has once again highlighted broader concerns in Albania regarding public procurement procedures, including competition levels, transparency, and the efficiency of spending public money.