Slovensko.Digital: Ministry's Decision Confirms our Reservations

Bratislava, 29 October (TASR) - Slovensko.Digital civic association sees the decision of the Investments, Regional Development and Informatisation Ministry to suspend projects related to the modernization of state's electronic services as confirmation of what it has been pointing out all along. New modernisation projects are being prepared in a non-transparent, unlawful and non-conceptual manner, the association said on Wednesday in response to the ministry's recent actions. "The ministry's statement doesn't clearly say which projects are affected by the suspension and what the extent of the suspension is. It isn't clear whether this is complete suspension of all activities or temporary suspension of individual procurements as part of broader modernisation or development of slovensko.sk," reads the statement of Slovensko.Digital. The association further stated that the ministry's claim that it is taking this step beyond its lawful obligations is not true. The ministry has bypassed its own internal evaluation of projects, bypassed its own committees that are supposed to comment on projects, bypassed the publication of mandatory project documents, and bypassed public comments on projects. Thus, the ministry launched the procurement process before these mandatory steps in violation of the legislation in force, stated Slovensko.Digital. According to the association, it is also not true that the ministry's actions so far hasn't brought any damage or that there is no risk of damage for Slovakia. The Investments, Regional Development and Informatisation Ministry reported on Wednesday that it is temporarily suspending all current projects related to the modernisation of the state's electronic services. The ministry wants to wait for the opinions of several institutions that were asked to check the processes related to this project. These include the Value for Money Unit, the Public Procurement Office (UVO) and the Supreme Audit Office (NKU). "We're taking this step not because we have to, but because we want to make it absolutely clear to the professional and lay public that the procurement process is in order. We're doing this above and beyond our lawful obligations because we believe it's important that confidence in the modernisation of state services is based on facts and not on assumptions or political interpretations," said the ministry. am