For the 2009 financial year, the European Union provided Romania with EUR13.5 million for emergency projects, in the wake of the July 2008 floods. An audit of payments worth EUR8.7 million, 64.3% of the total, has revealed numerous problems in the use of these funds, according to a report by the Court of Accounts.
One of the major issues uncovered by the audit has been the improper use of negotiations without the prior publication of a contract notice. In the case of three procurement contracts for repairs on county and communal roads, signed through this procedure, the authorities paid EUR674,000 for work done before the contracts were signed.
The audit has also turned up payments of EUR228,000 for work on a county road, although this was not necessary for the immediate removal of the floods’ effects, as well as EUR56,000 for an objective not listed as having been affected by the floods.
Last year, a MEDIAFAX analysis showed that the authorities waste EUR200 million every year on auctions carried out through direct negotiations or which receive a single bid. Although part of these purchases are paid for from EU funds, most contracts are awarded through negotiations without the prior publication of a contract notice, with the authorities citing the “extreme urgency” with which the work is needed, technical requirements that can only be met by a single supplier or the protection of exclusive rights, or open auctions that consistently receive a single bid from a limited-liability company.
Because of problems found during an annual procurement control, the European Commission terminated refunds for priority axis 2 of the Regional Operations Program as of June 11, 2011. Later, the Commission asked the Romanian authorities to bring the procurement management and control system in line with a number of requirements, and provide sufficient guarantees of its reliability.