Fitiris, Papaconstantinou discuss tender procedures

Justice Minister Costas Fitiris and auditor-general Andreas Papaconstantinou on Saturday met to discuss the auditing of tender procedures.

According to the justice ministry, the pair made “special reference” to “the need to ensure transparency and proper financial management of projects”.

The meeting comes with President Nikos Christodoulides having sent a number of amendments to the public procurements law back to parliament after they had been approved by MPs.

In a letter to the House legal committee, he stated that the main reason for his sending back the law had been the amendments’ stipulation that any party which wishes to appeal the awarding of any given tender must submit a cash guarantee, the amount of which would be determined by the tenders review authority.

The bill’s author, Disy MP Fotini Tsiridou, said in a subsequent committee session that she had worked together with the treasury and the legal service to “simplify” he way the amount payable as a guarantee will be calculated.

That figure, she said, will correspond to one per cent of the value of the project for infrastructure projects, and €10,000 for other public contracts.

She added that the amount will be refunded upon the conclusion of the appeal.

At the end of that session, committee chairman and Disy MP Nicos Tornaritis said the committee had accepted Christodoulides’ rejection of the initial bill and added that a new text would be prepared.