SaS Filing Complaint with PG's Office over Overpriced PCs for Interior Ministry

Bratislava, May 16 (TASR) - The opposition Freedom and Solidarity (SaS) party on Friday filed a criminal complaint with the Prosecutor-General's (PG) Office over a contract for the purchase of computers signed by the Interior Ministry. SaS views the contract as overpriced and ineffective, referring to an analysis prepared by the Finance Ministry's Value for Money Section. It wants the law-enforcement authorities to examine the whole procedure. "We have a suspicion that framework contracts show significant signs of overpricing. The total sum for framework contracts is €326 million, while the Finance Ministry's analysts say that €122 million could be saved on the sum itself, as the Interior Ministry chose the highest bid. If the lowest bid were chosen, €80 million could be saved. And there are also some computers and monitors at absolutely extreme prices," MP Marian Viskupic (SaS) told a news conference, adding that the monitors should cost over €1,100, while the state normally buys them for €200-250. At a time when the state is looking at every euro in people's wallets, we need to take a hard look at whether the state is functioning in an effective and meaningful manner, stressed Viskupic. According to him, the case resembles the one concerning the acquisition of police headwear, for which the Interior Ministry has already scrapped the tender and announced its intention to file a criminal complaint. Interior Minister Matus Sutaj Estok (Voice-SD) rejected criticism concerning overpriced purchases some time ago. He pointed out that only framework contracts are involved, not a specific acquisition. At the same time, he stressed the need to replace computers and spoke about a high return on investment. In its evaluation of the IT procurement project, the Value for Money Section recommended reducing the maximum amount of the framework contract to the level of the lowest bid in the tender, which would reduce the total framework by €81.8 million. It can see another potential saving in replacing high-performance computers and monitors with standard ones. ko/df