negotiating position of montenegro for the

NEGOTIATING POSITION OF MONTENEGRO

FOR THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL CONFERENCE ON THE ACCESSION OF MONTENEGRO

TO THE EUROPEAN UNION

FOR CHAPTER 5 PUBLIC PROCUREMENT

Podgorica, October 2013.

CH5 2-26 LIMITE DECLASSIFIED

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I NEGOTIATING POSITION SUMMARY

Montenegro accepts the acquis with respect to Chapter Public procurement as of 19 November 2012, and does not expect any difficulties in implementing the European legislation under this chapter by the date of the accession to the EU.

Montenegro does not request derogations or transitional periods under this chapter.

II LEGISLATIVE AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK

On 22 December 2011, the Government of Montenegro adopted the 2011-2015 Strategy for Public Procurement System Development in Montenegro, along with the Action Plan for its implementation.

The public procurement system in Montenegro is regulated by the Law on Public Procurement, which came into force on 1 January 2012 (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 42/11).

Additionally, the whole public procurement system is also regulated by the regulation in individual areas consisting of: Law on General Administrative Procedure (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 60/03 and Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 32/11), Law on Administrative Dispute (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 60/03, Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 73/10, 32/11), Law on Concessions (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 08/09), Electronic Signature Law (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 55/03 and 31/05 and Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 41/10), Law on Electronic Document (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 5/08), Law on Electronic Commerce (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 80/04 and Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 41/10), Law on Information Security (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 14/10), Law on Personal Data Protection (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 79/08, 70/09, 44/12) and Law on Data Secrecy (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 14/08, 76/09, 41/10, 40/11), Law on Waters (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 27/07), Law on Financing of Water Management (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 65/08), Law on Mining (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 65/08), Law on Geological Research (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 28/93, 42/94 i 26/07), Law on Forests (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 74/10), Law on Ports (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 51/08), Law on Games of Chance (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 52/04, Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 13/07), Law on Free Access to Information (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 44/12), Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 1/2009), Law on Budget (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 66/12), as well as a number of other laws and secondary legislation.

1. General principles


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This area is regulated by the existing Law on Public Procurement, passed by the Parliament on 29 June 2011, and which came into force on 1 January 2012 (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No 42/11). The following secondary legislation was also passed: Rulebook on forms in public procurement procedures (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No 62/2011), Rulebook on methodology of expressing sub-criteria into an appropriate number of points, manner of assessment and comparison of bids (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No 63/2011), Rulebook on manner of keeping and content of records on violation of anti-corruption rules (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No 63/2011), Rulebook on records on public procurement procedures (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No 63/2011), etc.1

General principles are applied on all the procurement procedures, including those not covered by the EU directives relating to the procurement of goods, works and services. Montenegro points out that the Law on Public Procurement does not recognise the preferential treatment for the domestic bidders over as opposed foreign bidders. According to the Montenegrin Law on Public Procurement in our tenders companies from EU can compete under the same conditions as domestic companies as well as companies from countries outside the EU. This means that there is no preferential treatment to domestic business entities over foreign businesses.

The range of application of the Law on Public Procurement includes the contracts on public procurement of goods, public services contracts and public works contracts. The provisions of the Law regulate all aspects of the procurement procedure, starting from definition of the subject to the award of contract itself.

Some of the most important elements of the public procurement system are the transparent procedures which provide equal opportunities for all stakeholders who want to participate in public procurement and to submit their bids as bidders. What is considered by the principle of transparency is the use of procedures by which the bidders and contracting authorities, or even public as a whole, ensure that the state affairs are conducted in an impartial and transparent manner, which means that the stakeholders clearly know the rules which are applied during the procurement, as well as the information on some possibilities for procurement. Montenegrin Law on Public Procurement implements the basic principles in practice by publishing all laws, rules, regulations and rules that define the public procurement process on the web portal of Public Procurement Administration. Plans of public procurement are published, as well. In every procurement and in every public announcement it is clearly stated how the bidders will be assessed. All unsuccessful bidders and public representatives are notified on the bidder who got the job and on what bid, and are notified and directed to follow all rules and

1Rulebook on program and manner of taking professional examination for performing the public procurement tasks

(Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 28/12), which came into force on 6 June 2012 and is actively applied; Program

and manner of vocational training and professional development in the area of public procurement which came into

force on 29 May 2012; Rulebook on personal data protection; Code of Ethics of Civil Servants and State Employees.


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regulations. The appeal proceedings are allowed where an independent third party or lawyers of unsuccessful bidders may inspect all records contracting authority ie. officers who carry out the procedure, believing that this contributes that the bidder, as the best guardian of public procurement system, can defend their interests, and thus also enhance the public interest. When it comes to the protection of business secrets, Article 9 of the Law on Public Procurement indicates that the purchaser must: 1) keep as secret information contained in the offer, which are in accordance with the Law defined as a secret and that the bidder marked as confidential; 2) refuse to provide information that could make confidentiality breach specified in the bid; 3) keeps secret the names of interested persons who committed purchase and taking over of tender documentation, as well as details of the bidders, until the expiration of the period provided for the opening of bids. Price and other details of the bid are important for correct assessment and evaluation of bids shall not be considered as confidential. An appropriate surveillance of the entire process is conducted, starting from the monitoring of the public announcement until the control of accuracy of public procurement procedure implementation for all contracts.

2. Award of contract In Montenegro, the award of contracts is regulated by the Law on Public Procurement. The public procurement procedures, according to the Law on Public Procurement are the following: open procedure, restricted procedure, negotiated procedure with prior publication of call for competition, negotiated procedure without prior publication of call for competition, framework agreement, consultancy services, tender, shopping, direct agreement. The Law clearly defines the List of covered parties for the application of the Law, as well as a list of exemptions in Articles 2 and 3 of the Law. The Public Procurement Administration of Montenegro prepares the List of covered parties. A newly established contracting authority is obliged to submit an application to the competent authority for the purpose of its inclusion into the List of Contracting Authorities, no later than 30 days from the date of acquiring the status of contracting authority. The List of Contracting Authorities referred to in Article 2 paragraph 4 is published at the Public Procurement Portal of the competent authority. The List is updated within three days from the day of submitting the application referred to in Article 2 paragraph 4. The contracting authorities are obliged to apply this Law even in cases when they are not included in the List referred to in Article 2 paragraph 4. In Montenegro, the process of contract awarding is divided into three categories.

2.1. Administrative capacity and measures for strengthening the public procurement system


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The Ministry of Finance is in charge of: monitoring legality, purposefulness and lawfulness of administrative acts; drafting laws, bylaws and general acts in cooperation with other competent bodies in this area; proposing development strategies and other public procurement measures to the Government; and monitoring implementation of the law. Apart from the Ministry of Finance, other bodies involved in this area are: Public Procurement Administration, Commission for Control of Public Procurement Procedure, and Concession Commission. The Public Procurement Administration is responsible for implementing the Law on Public Procurement, and for monitoring and implementing the Public Procurement Strategy. The Administration is an independent state administration body, currently employing 15 persons, with the plan to recruit 3 more employees on vacant positions. The Public Procurement Administration was established by the Decree on the Organisation and Method of Work of State Administration (Official Gazette of Montenegro 05/12) as well as by amendments to the Decree on the Organisation and Method of Work of State Administration (Official Gazette of Montenegro 25/12). New Rulebook on Internal Organisation and Systematisation of the Public Procurement Administration from 2013 secured an increased number of employees and improvement of the structure of expertise particularly in terms of training, monitoring the implementation of procedures, information technologies and reporting. The new Rulebook foresees four organizational units of Public Procurement Authority - Sector for monitorining the implementation of regulations and inspection supervision, Department for monitoring of the procurement procedures and management of electronic public procurement, Department for training, development and international cooperation in the field of public procurement and Department of general affairs and finance.

In addition to making the Report on Public Procurements and submitting it to the Government, Article 19 of the Law on Public Procurement clearly defines activities in the public procurement area and other related activities to be performed by the Public Procurement Administration.

Apart from the aforementioned, an efficient public procurement system depends also on relevant application and implementation of numerous key principles, out of which responsibility, professionalism, transparency and competition are the most important ones. Government adopted the Rulebook on the programme and method of sitting the professional exam for performing public procurement activities (Official Gazette of Montenegro 28/12) and the Programme for vocational training in the public procurement area. Those documents treat vocational training of both contracting authorities and bidders. The Public Procurement Administration adopts a work programme for each calendar year and publishes it on its portal. The work programme includes:

1) public procurement procedure as regulated by the Law, along with focusing on the EU legislation;

2) protection of rights in the public procurement procedure; 3) other regulations, forms, acts and documents referring to public procurement.


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Objective of the training is to acquire knowledge, skills and training of participants of public procurement and other persons, to effectively, efficiently and transparently implement, monitor and control the procedure of public procurement at all levels. Contracting authorities must, in order to prepare and implement public procurement procedures with quality, ensure that the Procurement Officer has the certificate of professional training and development in the field of public procurement which confirms the possession of knowledge in this field. The certificate is issued and renewed on the acquisition and development of knowledge, skills and abilities through training programs and regular improvement. Training program in the field of public procurement also envisages specialized training programe, regular subsequent training and education of trainers for the purpose of continuous learning. All programmes are interconnected in order to enable progress through various training levels. Trainings are organised based on the memoranda on cooperation signed with universities. Inter-institutional cooperation has been inaugurated during 2011 and 2012 by signing the memoranda on cooperation with the Commission for Prevention of Conflict of Interest, with the Centre for Monitoring (CEMI) as well as with the University of Mediteran and the University of Donja Gorica during 2011. and 2012. Project “Improvement of Coordination and information exchange in prevention of corruption in Montenegro” was developed in cooperation with CEMI. This project continues and improves the inter-institutional cooperation of the state administration and civil society, which is consistent with the programming policy of the Government of Montenegro, University of Donja Gorica and Mediteran.

An Agreement on Cooperation has been signed on 15 June 2011 with the Commission for Prevention of Conflict of Interest, obliging signatories to improve their cooperation and provide optimal conditions for exchange of information. The objective is to achieve a great level of information in order to prevent conflict of interest in public procurement procedure, develop capacities of the Administration and of the Commission, and support implementation of the Law on Public Procurement and of the Law on Prevention of Conflict of Interest, in order to achieve good results in the area of prevention of conflict of interest in public procurement. The cooperation is developed through exchange of information and experiences in implementation of the laws, joint trainings and implementation of projects, which contributes to prevention of conflict of interests between public officials and participants in public procurement procedures.

An Agreement on Cooperation between the Public Procurement Administration and the Directorate for Anti-Corruption Initiative has been signed on 29 December 2010, aimed at improving the exchange of information and data and defining mutual obligations of signatories in order to timely report, remove and prosecute criminal offences of corruption. Namely, the Public Procurement Administration submits semi-annual information on reported cases of corruption to the Directorate for Anti-Corruption Initiative. As agreed, signatories participate in training programmes for employees of state administration bodies and institutions that receive and register reports on corruption cases and jointly develop future training programmes intended for representatives of institutions that receive information of possibly corruptive behaviour.


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2.2. Monitoring and professional control of the public procurement system

Monitoring and professional control have been addressed under the project “Further development of the public procurement system” financed by the EC (2012/2013), and they will be incorporated in the revised Law on Public Procurement, comprising data collection and processing, special reports, authorisations of persons in the official capacity, production of minutes, etc. Public Procurement Administration monitors the situation and performs professional control of the public procurement system.

A plan of monitoring and professional control comprises contracting authorities to be covered by the monitoring and control, types and stages of public procurement procedures, objects of public procurements and other issues relevant for monitoring and professional control.

In performing monitoring and professional control, Public Procurement Administration collects, processes, classifies and uses data and information:

submitted to the competent authority by contracting authority, in accordance with the Law;

publicly available and published on the portals of the State Audit Institution, commission competent for protection of rights in public procurement procedures and other state administration bodies and local self-government units competent for budget and finances;

submitted to the competent authority by bidders, and by legal/natural persons that are not bidders within the meaning of the Law;

publicly available from other sources or revealed by the competent authority in performing its tasks and competences.

2.3. Prevention of corruption in public procurement

Prevention of corruption in the public procurement system is addressed in the Public Procurement System Development Strategy of Montenegro 2011-2015, with its implementing Action Plan. In mid-July 2010, the Government adopted the Strategy for Fight against Corruption and Organised Crime, accompanied by the implementing Action Plan. The Strategy covers the period from 2010 to 2014, and it contains numerous measures and objectives, with 93 institutions as reporting entities. This Strategy indicates areas particularly sensitive to corruption (privatisation, public procurements, spatial planning, education, health, local self-government, civil society, media and sport). Following the Action Plan covering the period 2011-2012, the new Action Plan for the period 2013-2014 has been adopted by the Government in May 2013. The Law on Public Procurement devotes particular attention to the importance of anti-corruption provisions to be observed by contracting authorities, bidders and other stakeholders.


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Public Procurement Administration implements primarily preventive measures. With a view to making the Administration more available to citizens, a phone line has been opened, offering a possibility to citizens to contact the authorised officer in order to report corruption, and to obtain information or legal advice. Anti-corruption provisions and provisions on prevention of conflict of interest are contained in Articles 15, 16, 17 and 18 of the Law on Public Procurement, clearly stipulating obligations of both contracting authorities and bidders in terms of observing the principles of anti-corruption policy and policy of conflict of interest. The public procurement procedure carried out with the suspicion of conflict of interest is considered invalid.

Special opinions have been created for harmonising positions with the State Commission for Control of Public Procurement Procedures about important issues concerning implementation of the Law on Public Procurement. In the phase of publishing, officers of the Administration check and take care of the correctness of the invitation to public tender in terms of its formal and essential accuracy (Articles 62 and 63). Furthermore, they check and ensure conformity of the invitation to public tender with the conditions defined by the public procurement regulations. These activities are preventively instructive. Public Procurement Administration conducts proper supervision, from monitoring the public call, to control of correctness of implementation of the procurement procedure for all contracts. The invitation to public tender that has not been published as prescribed by the Law on Public Procurement shall not be legally valid. The Commission for Control of Public Procurement Procedure considers and decides upon complaints lodged against public procurement procedures, examines regularity in implementation of the Law on Public Procurement, proposes and takes measures for eliminating irregularities in public procurement procedures, cooperates and exchanges information on public procurements with competent authorities of other countries, and performs other activities defined by the Law.

3. Remedies and classical sector Article 121 of the Law on Public Procurement provides for that in the procedure of protection of rights, the provisions of the law which regulates the general administrative procedure shall apply accordingly, unless otherwise stipulated by the Law. Pursuant to the Law on General Administrative Procedure (Official Gazette of the Republic of Montenegro 60/03 and Official Gazette of Montenegro 32/11), state authorities and local self-government authorities shall proceed in compliance with this Law, directly applying the legal regulations, when deciding on administrative matters on rights, obligations or legal interests of a natural person, legal person or other party, as well as when performing other affairs determined by this Law. Furthermore, institutions and other legal persons shall also proceed in compliance with this Law when, in exercising public powers, they make decisions and perform other activities referred to in Article 1 of this Law. Provisions of the Law, which, due to the specific character of administrative matters in particular


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administrative domains, regulate necessary exceptions to the rules of general administrative procedure, shall be in line with the basic principles determined by this Law.

According to the Law on Administrative Dispute (Official Gazette of the Republic of Montenegro 60/03 and Official Gazette of Montenegro 73/10, 32/11), a court shall decide in the administrative procedure upon the legality of an administrative acts and other individual acts as regulated by the law.

With regards to institutional framework, the State Commission for Control of Public Procurement Procedure (hereinafter referred to as the ``State Commission``) was established by Article 137 of the Law on Public Procurement (Official Gazette of Montenegro 42/11), as an independent and autonomous legal person, with competences and authorisations explicitly determined by this law. On the grounds of Article 139 of the Law on Public Procurement, the State Commission has the following competences:

1) it considers and decides upon appeals submitted in the course of the public procurement procedures;

2) in the course of appellate proceedings, it examines the regularity of implementation of this law, and takes and proposes measures for removal of irregularities in public procurement procedures;

3) it decides upon requests of contracting authorities on continuation of public procurement procedure, when the appeal was submitted in accordance with this law;

4) it decides on requests regarding expenses of the procedure; 5) it monitors implementation of decisions in accordance with Article 132

paragraph 5 of this law, and takes measures in accordance with the law; 6) it performs control of public procurement procedures, the value of which is

more than EUR 500,000; 7) it cooperates and exchanges information in the area of public procurement with

competent authorities of other states; 8) it adopts the Rules of Procedure; 9) it performs other duties in accordance with the law.

Competences of the State Commission are determined by Articles 128, 132, 135 and 144 of the Law on Public Procurement in the following manner:

1) it can annul the public procurement procedure, if the contracting authorities does not submit the files and documentation of the public procurement concerned within the determined deadline;

2) in the appellate procedure, it makes decisions within the limits of appellate statements, and it decides ex officio on important violations of the law in the course of public procurement procedure;

3) it rejects the appeal if it’s not allowed, lodged timely or by an unauthorised person;


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4) it suspends the appellate procedure, if the applicant withdraws the application; 5) it rejects the appeal as ungrounded; 6) it adopts the appeal and annuls the public procurement procedure and adopted

decision partially or completely, it points the contracting authority to performed irregularities and orders conducting of the decision making procedure anew or taking necessary measures again in order to remove the identified irregularities.

Apart from obligations prescribed by the Law on Public Procurement in force, the State Commission is obliged to implement provisions of the former law while resolving the appeals against decisions and acts of contracting authorities which were adopted, i.e. implemented in public procurement procedures initiated in accordance with that former law. Protection of rights and interests within the public procurement system is performed through legal protection provided prior and after contracting. Pre – contractual legal protection includes the protection of rights and interests of interested parties starting from initiation of the public procurement procedure until the completion of that procedure, and it is exercised within the procedure conducted before the State Commission. Pre – contract legal protection is initiated when interested parties (mostly bidders) lodge the appeal against acts and decisions of contracting authorities. Post – contractual legal protection is exercised before the Administrative Court of Montenegro and regular courts. Legal protection against decisions (decision, conclusion) of the State Commission is exercised before the Administrative Court of Montenegro, and it is initiated by charge submitted by interested parties (bidders, contracting authorities etc.). Legal protection before the Administrative Court of Montenegro basically refers to the same stages of public procurement procedure as the legal protection before the State Commission, and it is considered post – contractual legal protection since it is mainly exercised after the conclusion of the public procurement contract. Namely, if the State Commission rejects or denies the appeal against the decision of the contracting authority on the choice of the most favourable bid (pursuant to valid law), i.e. against the decision on rejection of objection against the decision of the contracting authority on award of the contract (pursuant to former law) or if it suspends the appellate procedure, the contracting authority can conclude the public procurement contract with selected bidder without waiting for expiration of a deadline for filing the charge; therefore, the possible charge filed to the Administrative Court of Montenegro does not have suspensory effect in this case, and it is mainly submitted after the conclusion of the public procurement contract. This situation is the result of the existing legal solutions, according to which the public procurement contract can be concluded immediately after expiration of a deadline for appeal2, i.e. immediately after submission of decision of the State Commission on rejection or denial of appeal, or decision on suspension of the appellate procedure. The deadline for submission of charge against these decisions (decisions, conclusions) of the State

2Expiration of 10 days, as of the day of submission of decision on selection of the most favourable bid to bidders


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Commission is 30 days as of the day of their submission to the applicant, i.e. contracting authority. Post – contractual legal protection before regular courts refers to conclusion and implementation of the public procurement contract. The above mentioned notes on legal protection are important, since the public procurement contract is concluded after the final decision of the contracting authority regarding selection of the most favourable bid, and this decision becomes final when the appeal is not submitted against it within the prescribed deadline, when the State Commission rejects or denies the appeal, or when the State Commission finds in the course of control that the public procurement procedure was conducted in accordance with the law, which means that the decision on the most favourable bid was legally made. This means that the correct bid was selected as the most favourable one; this bid was more favourable than all other correct bids in accordance with predetermined criteria. 4. Utilities sector

The Goverment of Montenegro has, on 22 December 2011, adopted the Strategy followed by the Action Plan for the development of the public procurement system in Montenegro for the period 2011-2015. In December 2011, the Government established the Coordinating Body for Monitoring and Implementation of Public Procurement Strategy. Utilities sector is regulated by the Law on Public Procurement. The Law on Public Procurement (“Official Gazette of Montenegro“, No. 42/11), Article No. 2, defined that it applies to companies, legal entities and entrepreneurs that are operating in the areas of water management, energy, mining, telecommunications, postal services and transportation in accordance with the provisions of Article 108 to 113 of the Law. The Law on Public Procurement of Montenegro does not provide for a special regime for "utility services", which means that procurement procedures of entities that are operating in these sectors fall under the same rules as the "classic" sector. However, the absence of a special regime for "utility services" is not a violation of EU acquis, due to the fact that the provisions of the classical sector are more strict than the provisions prescribed for the sector of utility services, but could be considered as the omission of the Public Procurement Law in relation to flexibility, simplification of the procurement and modernization, as well as the potential cause of changing competition. The subject of public procurement in the field of water managment, energy, mining,

telecommunications, postal and transportation, on the basis of Article 110 of the Law on

Public Procurement, is procurement of goods, services and transfer of the works necessary

for the activity:


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1) construction, maintenance, supply and exploitation of facilities for the production, transport or transmission and distribution of potable water, electricity, gas and heat;

2) exploration for or production of oil and gas (hydrocarbons), exploration for or extraction of coal and other solid fuels;

3) construction, maintenance and utilization of telecommunications networks and facilities and provision of telecommunication services;

4) construction, maintenance and utilization of facilities used in postal transport; 5) construction, maintenance and utilization of facilities used in air, sea, lake, river

and railway transport, as well as regular urban and suburban passenger transport in road transport that is performed by buses.

The subject of public procurement in the energy sector shall also be the procurement of

electricity, oil and gas.

A public procurement in the field of water management and energy, pursuant to Article 111

of the Law on Public Procurement, shall not be considered to be any procurement of goods,

services and works for:

1) production of potable water or electricity if: a person other than the contracting authority referred to in Article 2 of this Law pumps potable water or produces electricity, and the consumption of these goods is necessary for the performance of this person's activities not specified in paragraph 1 of the Article 110 of this Law; the supply of a public network depends solely on the personal consumption of a person other than the contracting authority referred to in Article 2 of this Law and if this consumption does not exceed 30% of the total production of potable water or electricity on the part of that person, taking into consideration the average over the last three years, including the current year;

2) production of gas or heat if: the production of gas or heat by a person other than the contracting authority referred to in Article 2 of this Law is an unavoidable consequence of the performance of this person's activities not specified in paragraph 1 of the Article 110 of this Law, the supply of a public network is intended solely for the purpose of economic exploitation of such production and does not exceed 20% of the total annual income of a person other than the contracting authority referred to in Article 2 of this Law, taking into consideration the average for the last three years and the current year.

In accordance with Article 112 of the Law on Public Procurement the subject of public

procurement in the water management sector shall also be the procurements connected

with:

1) hydraulic engineering projects, irrigation or land melioration, provided that over 20% of the total quantity of water provided through these projects, by irrigation or land drainage is to be used as potable water;


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2) filtration and drainage of rainwater and waste water. The provisions of this Law shall not apply to public procurement contracts in the water

management, energy, mining, telecommunications and transport sectors in the following

cases:

1) when a contracting authority involved in the construction, maintenance and operation of telecommunications networks and facilities and provision of telecommunications services conducts a procurement procedure whose sole purpose is to enable it to provide one or more of telecommunications services, provided that another person may freely offer its services in the same geographic area and under the same conditions;

2) when a contracting authority awards a contract for potable water purchase; 3) when a contracting authority that is a rate-based customer concludes an electricity

procurement contract; 4) when a contracting authority transports oil or natural gas, or transmits or

distributes electricity through the systems where only one bidder exists; 5) when a contracting authority responsible for supplying rate-based customers with

electricity, upon the previously obtained approval of the state authority in charge of energy, procures the missing quantities of electricity determined by the Energy Balance Sheet of Montenegro for the purposes of supplying these customers, for balancing of the system and the system services directly from the electricity producer;

6) when a contracting authority organizes a public contest for purposes not specified in Article 110 of this Law;

7) when an economic operator founded by several contracting authorities performs procurement from its founders for the purposes of performing the activities referred to in Article 110 paragraph 1 of this Law;

8) when a contracting authority, as a related entity for the purposes of the law regulating the corporate income tax, or the law regulating the personal income tax, performs procurement from an entity to which it is related, provided that in the previous three years the contracting authority generated at least 80% of the average total revenue for the entity with which it is related.

With regards to the institutional arrangement in the field of utility services, Ministry of

Finance supervises the legality and suitability of work and legality of the administrative

acts of other bodies. In addition to the Ministry of Finance, following institutions are

included: Public Procurement Administration, Commission for the Supervision of Public

Procurement and Commission for Concessions. Directorate for Public Procurement is

responsible for the implementation of the Law on Public Procurement, monitoring and

implementation of the Strategy of public procurement. For the implementation of the Law

institutional framework is provided the by establishing Public Procurement Administration

and State Commission for Supervision of Public Procurement.


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5. Concessions

Area of concessions is regulated by the Law on Concessions (Official Gazette of Montenegro 08/09) and legislation in specific areas, which consists of the following: Law on Waters (Official Gazette of the Republic of Montenegro 27/07), Law on Financing of Water Management (Official Gazette of Montenegro 65/08), Law on Mining (Official Gazette of Montenegro 65/08), Law on Geological Research (Official Gazette of the Republic of Montenegro 28/93, 42/94 and 26/07), Law on Forests (Official Gazette of Montenegro 74/10), Law on Ports (Official Gazette of Montenegro 51/08), Law on Games of Chance (Official Gazette of the Republic of Montenegro 52/04, Official Gazette of Montenegro 13/07), as well as a set of other laws and bylaws. The mentioned legislation determines conditions under which domestic and foreign legal persons may be awarded with concessions for the usage of natural goods, goods in general use and other goods of general interest, provision of pursue of the appropriate public interest, greater employment, introduction of new technologies and provision of accelerated economic development, provision of revenue for grantor, as well as other benefits. The Law on Concessions regulates conditions, manner and procedure for awarding concessions, subject matter of concessions and other matter of relevance for realisation of concessions. According to the Law on Concessions, the contract on concession is the contract concluded for a specific period of time, in written form, and it regulates mutual rights and obligations between the grantor and concessionaire.

In 2011, the Government of Montenegro adopted the Policy of Concession Awarding in Montenegro. This policy determines general principles which need to be respected in this area.

In Montenegro, there are more than 40 laws defining the possibility of cooperation between private and public sector in specific areas, but currently there is no single law regulating the area of public – private partnerships.

When we speak about institutional order in the segment of concessions, it is important to note that the following institutions can be grantors, in accordance with the Law on Concessions: the Parliament of Montenegro, the Government of Montenegro, local self – government, Capital and Old Royal Capital, while the concessionaire can be domestic or foreign company or any other legal person, entrepreneur or natural person who obtained the right to concession, consortium or other form of business associations which regulates mutual relations under the separate contract.

The competent authority for awarding of concessions is the state administration authority (ministry or administration body), depending on the type of concession, for concessions, the awarding of which is within the competencecompetence of the Parliament or


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Government, i.e. local administration body, for concessions, the award of which falls under the competence of the Parliament or municipalities, in accordance with the law.

The Law on Concessions establishes the Commission for Concessions as an autonomous and independent body in performing the following duties:

1) it decides upon objections of participants of the concession awarding process, which refers to valuation and the ranking list of bidders;

2) it keeps records of contracts on concessions; 3) it approves the implementation of procedure of extension of deadline for concession

award or extension of space for performance of duties related to concessions; it also approves the implementation of procedure of concession award for the accompanying mineral raw materials at the approved exploitation field, without implementation of the public competition procedure stated in Article 20 paragraph 2, items 1, 2 and 3 of the Law on Concessions.

6. Common Procurement Vocabulary

Legislative framework which regulates this area consists of the Law on Public Procurement (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 42/11), Rulebook on Forms in the Public Procurement Procedure (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 62/11) and Rulebook on Records of Public Procurement Procedures (Official Gazette of Montenegro, No. 63/11).

Institutional competence for monitoring and implementation of the common procurement vocabulary has been conferred to the Public Procurement Administration, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance.

7. Electronic public procurement

The legal framework regulating this area consists of the Law on Public Procurement (“Official Gazette of Montenegro”, No. 42/11) and Rulebook on closer content and the manner of conducting public procurement in electronic form (“Official Gazette of Montenegro”, No. 61/11), which stipulate the conditions and the manner of conducting public procurement in electronic form. Also there are other laws which provide preconditions for the implementation of electronic public procurement:

The Law on Electronic Signatures (“Official Gazette of Montenegro”, No. 55/03 and 31/05 (“Official Gazette of Montenegro”, No. 41/10) - This Law regulates the use of electronic signatures in legal, administrative, judicial and other proceedings, as well as the rights, obligations and responsibilities of legal and natural persons in relation to electronic certificates, in case a special law does not provide otherwise;

The Law on Electronic Documents (“Official Gazette of Montenegro”, No. 5/08), that is governing the usage of electronic documents in legal, administrative, judicial and other proceedings, and the rights, obligations and responsibilities of companies,


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entrepreneurs, legal and physical entities, government bodies, state government bodies, local government bodies and agencies and organizations, which are exercising public authority in relation to electronic document, unless it is not otherwise specified by the law;

The Law on Electronic Trade (“Official Gazette of Montenegro”, No. 80/04 and “Official Gazette of Montenegro”, No. 41/10), by which is regulated the provision of services at a distance, for a fee, through electronic equipment for the processing and storage of personal data in the user's request, liability of providers of information society and rules regarding the conclusion of the contract in electronic form;

Law on Information Security (“Official Gazette of Montenegro”, No. 14/10) - Under this Law confidentiality of data means that the information is available only to persons who are authorized to gain access to or to act with that information;

Confidentiality Law (“Official Gazette of Montenegro”, No. 14/08, 76/09, 41/10, 40/11), which transcribes unified system of data classification, accesses to classified informations about storing, using, keeping and protection of classified informations. Secret data can be used only for the purposes for which they were collected and the time necessary to achieve that purpose.

Institutional competence over introduction of electronic public procurement has the Public

Procurement Administration, in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry

of Telecommunication and Information Society.

8. Sustainable public procurement The area of sustainable public procurement encompasses social and green aspects of public procurement, treatment of small and medium size enterprises, as well as the topic of innovations. Basic principles and general objectives providing guidelines for the regulation of this area are contained in the Strategy for Development of the Public Procurement System in Montenegro for the period 2011-2015 which sets the stimulation of sustainable economic development of Montenegro and the growth of the living standard of citizens as one of the general objectives of public procurement. The Strategy recommends development of the Green Procurement system which “implies the application and respect of principles of environmental protection and application of different socio-economic matters in public procurement procedures”, as well as the steps which the competent institution should take in the segment of environmental and social aspects of public procurement. Legislative framework regulating this area consists of the Law on Public Procurement (Official Gazette of Montenegro 42/11) which entered into force on 1 January 2012, together with the Rulebook on the methodology of expressing sub criteria in a


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corresponding number of points, manner of grading and comparing (Official Gazette of Montenegro 63/11). As a main prerequisite for the implementation of sustainable public procurement, Public Procurement Law provides possibility to choose economically advantageous offer as the criteria for selecting the best offer (Article 93). In the case of the application of this criterion, the Law further provides the possibility of including the following sub-criteria that are consistent with the guidelines of sustainability: the program and the level of environmental protection and energy efficiency, aesthetic and functional characteristics (Article 94). The Law stipulates that the criteria and sub-criteria must not be discriminatory and must be associated with the contents of the tender subject. Law, in Article 50, provides that the technical specifications determine the shape technical and technological advantages or functional characteristics that may include management of environmental protection and energy efficiency requirements. The same Article stipulates that the purchaser shall, in accordance with the law, when determining the technical characteristics or specifications in the tender documentation, prescribe mandatory application of technical standards for accessibility of persons with disabilities. The Law stipulates that ordering parties in the call for tender, the invitation to tender and the tender documentation, in addition to necessary conditions for participation in the procurement procedure, may provide that the bidder must demonstrate that it meets and optional conditions relating to: 1) economic financial capability and / or 2) professional technical and personnel training (Article 67). Evidence of the security measures of the system of environmental protection and safety at work are an integral part of the second group of conditions in public procurement of goods and services (Articles 69, 70), while the statement of educational and professional qualifications of the bidder, or the qualifications of managers and, in particular qualifications of persons responsible for providing the services, are an integral part of public procurement of services and works, which is important because of the social aspect of public procurement (Articles 70, 71). The Act also provides mechanisms for verifying compliance with the regulations related to employment protection and working conditions, which are applicable where works, services or delivery of goods will be carried out, in case of unusually low price. The law also stipulates those persons who are not duly complied with all obligations arising from taxes and social security contributions in accordance with the law (Article 65) can not participate in the tender. The law allows for the possibility of submitting alternative tenders, bids at parties and joint offer (especially important in terms of improving access to small and medium enterprises procurement, Articles 49, 77, 79, 82). Additionally, in order to achieve transparency and security and easy access to information, all information on the public procurement process are free, are available electronically, and it is planned to establish offices and customer support. Institutionally, the Public Procurement Administration is competent for the implementation of both the Strategy and the Law on Public Procurement in cooperation


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with the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism (for the area of green procurement, strategic planning and trainings), Ministry of Economy (for the area of energy efficiency, renewable energy sources, small and medium size enterprises and innovations), Ministry of Science (for a part of the area of innovations) and the Ministry of Transport (for the part related to the fuel use efficiency). 9. Procurement in the area of defence Public procurement in the area of defence is not regulated by the Law on Public Procurement (Official Gazette of Montenegro 42/11). Procurement in the area of defence is partly regulated by the Decree on External Trade in Equipment for Special Use (Official Gazette of Montenegro 66/10), in the part related to the procurement of weapons and military equipment. III ALIGNMENT OF THE LEGISLATIVE AND INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK WITH THE ACQUIS The legislative framework regulating area of public procurement in Montenegro transposed the relevant European Union acquis into the national legislation:

Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Part Three, Title IV and Title VII and the European Court of Justice case law which put emphasis on the principles of cost-effectiveness and effectiveness, transparency, equal treatment, free competition and non-discrimination;

Directive 2004/18/EC on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts regarding the so-called “traditional contracting authorities“;

Directive 2004/17/EC coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors;

Directive 89/665/EEC on the coordination of the relating to the application laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the application of review procedures to the award of public supply and public works contracts;

Directive 92/13/EEC coordinating the laws, regulation and administrative provisions relating to the application of Community Rules on the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and telecommunications sectors;

Directive 2007/66/EC amending the other two directives to improve the effectiveness of review procedures concerning the award of public contracts;

Commission Regulation (EC) No. 213/2008 amending Regulation (EC) No. 2195/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV);


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Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 842/2011 establishing standard forms for the publication of notices in the framework of public procurement procedures pursuant to Directives 2004/17/EC and 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, repealing Commission Regulation (EC) No 1564/2005.

Directive 2009/81/EC on the coordination of procedures for the award of certain works contracts, supply contracts and service contracts by contracting authorities or entities in the fields of defence and security, and amending Directives 2004/17/EC and 2004/18/EC.

1. General principles Acquis in the area of public procurement is based on the general principles deriving from the Treaty on Functioning of the European Union, Part Three, Title IV and Title VII and the European Court of Justice case law, such as cost-effectiveness and effectiveness, transparency, equal treatment, free competition and non-discrimination. These principles apply to all procurement processes including those that are not covered by the EU directives related to the procurement of goods, works and services. These principles in Montenegro are implemented through entire public procurement, regardless of the procurement value, including procurement under the treshlod prescribed by Directives, as well as procurements of higher values then thresholds prescribed by Directives. The EU thresholds established by Article 7 of Directive 2004/18 and Article 16 of Directive 2004/17, and they are verified by the Commission every two years. Currently, the thresholds for the public sector amount to 154,000 euros for contracts on procurement of goods and services, which assign central government bodies; 236,000 euros for the contracts on procurement of goods and services, which are awarded by contracting authorities which are not central government departments and 5.923 million euros contracts for public works for all levels of government. In the utilities sector when it comes to public works, the class is the same, but when it comes to services and goods, the thresholds are higher and equal to 473,000 euros. Prescribed European thresholds are significantly higher than those set forth by Montenegrin Law on Public Procurement. Specifically, according to the current Montenegrin law prescribed value thresholds are:

a) The first threshold - for procurement with an estimated value of up to 5,000 euros, conducted the procedure of direct agreements;

b) The second threshold - for procurement whose estimated value is more than 5,000 euros and 25,000 euros for the purchase of goods and services, or more than 5,000 euros to 50,000 euros for the transfer of the works the procedure of shopping shall be carried out;

c) The third threshold - for the procurement whose estimated value is over 25,000 euros for the purchase of goods and services, or more than 50,000


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euros for the transfer of the works carried out, the procedures are referred to in Article 20, point 1-7 of the Law on Public Procurement.

For procurement whose estimated value is in the the first and second threshold, procedures referred to in Article 20, item 1-7 of the Law on Public Procurement can be carried out.

1.1. Prevention of corruption in public procurement Montenegro indicates that the issue of corruption has been particularly tackled under the Chapter 23 – Judicial and Fundamental Rights, but that special attention will be devoted to this issue also under Chapter 5 – Public procurement. Therefore, Montenegro underlines the following activities as particularly important anti-corruption measures, as envisaged by the Action Plan for the Chapter 23 – Judicial and Fundamental Rights:

Adopt amendments to the Law on Public Procurement (December 2013) and its implementing legislation (June 2014). Amendments related to simplification of procurement procedures, strengthening anti-corruption policy, as well as strengthening control procedures in a way that will further regulate certain chapters concerning these changes.

Monitor improvement of the public procurement control system, which implies the introduction of new jurisdictions of the Public Procurement Administration through supervision, increased training, harmonization of Public Procurement Law with the Law on Inspection, the criminal policy of control by the State Commission.

Define methodology for risk analysis in exercising the control, with a view to proactively preventing and early detecting corruptive activities and other actions with elements of corruption, and exercise the control in accordance with the defined methodology. Prepare an annual report by the Public Procurement Administration;

Strengthen the capacities of the authorities competent for monitoring implementation of the awarded contracts by increasing the number of authorised officers and by increasing the number of inspection controls.

Activities in the fight against corruption within the public procurement system are carried out in cooperation with public prosecution offices, Directorate for Anti-Corruption Initiative, Commission for Prevention of Conflict of Interest, State Audit Institution, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Interior. Montenegro highlights that the tendency is centralization of procurement within the public administration, in order to contribute to financial efficiency and transparency, and without any modifications of the existing institutional framework. 2. Award of Contract Montenegrin legislation is aligned with the following Directives:


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Directive 2004/18/EC on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts regarding the so-called “traditional contracting authorities“.

Directive 2004/17/EC coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors. The area of application of these directives is defined through covered bodies or entities and contracts, application thresholds and specific exemptions. Within this framework, the specific requirements were established so as to ensure full respect to general principles during the procurement procedure. The directives also provide framework for electronic procurement including electronic communication in accordance with the Electronic Signature Law and electronic trade.

Directive 2009/81/EC regulates the award of some contracts in the fields of defence and security, which is not fully implemented in the current legislative framework of Montenegro.

As regards the award of public contracts, acquis in the area of procurement contains three

directives on remedies:

Directive 89/665/EEC on the coordination of the relating to the application laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the application of review procedures to the award of public supply and public works contracts.

Directive 92/13/EEC coordinating the laws, regulation and administrative provisions relating to the application of Community Rules on the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and telecommunications sectors.

Directive 2007/66/EC amending the other two directives to improve the effectiveness of review procedures concerning the award of public contracts.

3. Remedies and Classical Sector The Law on Public Procurement (Official Gazette of Montenegro 42/11) is aligned with the Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts, Directive 2007/66/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Council Directives 89/665/EEC and 92/13/EEC with regard to improving the effectiveness of review procedures concerning the award of public contracts, Commission Regulation (EC) No 213/2008 amending Regulation (EC) No 2195/2002 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV) and Directives 2004/17/EC and 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on public procurement procedures, as regards the revision of the CPV, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 842/2011 establishing standard forms for the


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publication of notices in the framework of public procurement procedures pursuant to Directives 2004/17/EC and 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, repealing Commission Regulation (EC) No 1564/2005. Also, it is partly aligned with the Directive 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors. Adoption of the amendments on the Law on Public Procurement represents a significant

improvement regarding the alignment of Montenegrin legislation on public procurement

with the acquis.

As regards the legal protection it is important to mention that the Directive 2007/66/EC of

the European Parliament and Council amending the Council Directives 89/665/EEC and

92/13/EEC with regard to improving the effectiveness of review procedures concerning

the award of public procurement contracts has to be fully transposed in the Montenegrin

legislation in order to enable the accession of Montenegro to the EU. The Government of

Montenegro adopted the step by step approach which implies the improvement of

legislation which is mostly applicable to the public sector (Directive 2004/18/EC), since

the legal protection is provided through the pre-contract and post-contract phase

protection, as previously stated and according to the EC evaluation it is mostly aligned with

the acquis.

Each legislative initiative on a short term basis should be limited to measures which are

absolutely necessary for further alignment with the Directive 2007/66/EC of European

Parliament and of the Council, especially having in mind that presently the initiative for the

modernisation of the EU public procurement legislation launched by the European

Commission is in its final phase. With this regard Montenegro emphasizes that it is fully

ready to take over the acquis in this area until the date of accession to the European Union,

and we are pointing out that the Government envisaged amending the Law on Public

Procurement in the fourth quarter 2013.

Court protection is provided before the Administrative Court. Since the acquis includes

rulings of the European Court of Justice as well as secondary sources of the EU acquis,such

as recommendations, opinions, guidelines and interpretations, which are not subject of

directives, Montenegro takes those documents as well into consideration when aligning

national legislation with acquis.

4. Electronic Procurement


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Project Further Development and Strengthening of the Public Procurement System in Montenegro under IPA 2007 has established the first e-notice system, the Portal for public procurement. This is an internet-based service which can be accessed from any internet browser. The Portal is placed on the website of the Public Procurement Administration at the address www.ujn.gov.me. Project Improvement of the Public Procurement System in Montenegro financed by the EU resulted in drafting the technical specification of the future electronic public procurement system as well as the financial assessment of its introduction. 5. Utilities sector As regards the utilities sector it is important to mention that the Directive 2004/17/EC, which is applied on contracts in the area of drinking water, energy, transport and postal services, has the scope of application different from that of the Directive 2004/18/EC, and establishes the public procurement system more flexible than the regulatory framework of the Directive 2004/18/EC. Certainly, Directive 2004/17/EC has to be transposed into the Montenegrin legislation. Government of Montenegro has assumed the step by step approach implying the improvement of legislation which is mostly applied on public sector (Directive 2004/18/EC), whereas at the same time stipulates that these rules shall also apply to contracts offered by clients or entities belonging to the utilities sector for the public administration bodies rather than cover special sectors (drinking water, energy etc.). It also applies to private operators who have received a special or exclusive right. This approach guarantees that procurement in utilities sector is aligned to a great extent

with the EU principles and rules on public procurement, regarding that the legal

framework introduced with the Law on Public Procurement implies adequate measures of

protection for transparent, fair and competitive procurement procedures based on equality

and non-discrimination. However this “consolidated” approach means that a certain

number of special clauses and options prescribed by the Directive 2004/17/EC are not

transposed and therefore are unavailable to the entities dealing in the utilities sector.

Montenegro plans to integrate flexible procedures prescribed by Directive 17/2004/EC

through amendments to the Law on Public Procurement, which will be adopted by the end

of 2013.

Montenegro points out that amendment to the Law on Public Procurement in utility sector will simplify administrative procedures in this sector and further align Montenegrin legislation with the European one. The amendments will be in conformity with Directive 17/2004/EC. The scope of the amendment goes in the direction of a clearly defining the scope of application, clearly defining the covered parties and relevant activities and exemptions. Also, public procurement procedures that will be used will be defined,

http://www.ujn.gov.me/


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qualification system will be developed as well as the part that refers to the "in house" and associated companies. 6. Concessions Montenegro is in the phase of drafting a new law on concessions and public-private partnership with the aim of adopting the acquis and regulating the issue of concessions and public-private partnership according to the international practice. Aware of the fact that the European Commission proposed a new special Directive on concessions; we are considering and examining the proposed solutions with special attention. With this regard we estimate that the final options of the legislative framework structure for concessions and public-private partnership will be accordant with the acquis and the institutional structure. Montenegro is particularly considering solutions defined in the Green Paper on Public – Private Partnerships, as well as the EU treaties, and takes into consideration communication of the Commission which refers to concessions and public – private partnerships. Montenegro particularly emphasises that it is fully ready to take over the acquis in this area before the date of the EU accessions as well as to comprehend it and that we are aware that the definition of concessions and the procedure of allocation of concessions as well as some other issues are currently not identical to the acquis. 7. Sustainable public procurement Policy regulating the area of green and social aspects of public procurement as well as the treatment of small and medium size enterprises is mostly aligned with directions of Directives on public procurement as well as the guidelines, manuals and communications of the Commission for this area. Amendments to the Law on Public Procurement planned for the fourth quarter of 2013 will imply further alignment through the following amendments:

a) introduction of the possibility for the state to allocate the right to participation in public procurement procedures for protection workshops. It is anticipated that this article will be brought in accordance with Article 19 of Directive 2004/18, as an important segment of introducing social aspects in public procurement process.

b) for the client to be able to define special conditions related to the execution of contract, especially in the scope of the social and environmental protection aspects as well as to obtain information on them during the execution of the contract.

c) introducing the competitive dialogue as a type of the public procurement procedure. Competitive dialogue procedure was introduced by Directive 2004/18, which aims


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to stimulate innovation, which does not exist in the Law on Public Procurement in Montenegro.

d) more detailed establishing of the fulfilment of conditions of the professional-technical ability in the execution of the contract in the domain of environmental protection.

e) more detailed definition of rules in the cases of permitting alternative bids. In the process of preparing amendments to the Law on Public Procurement, the Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, the Directorate for Development of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in the Ministry of Economy and the Public Procurement Administration will cooperate in the research to be carried out among the small and medium size enterprises on ways to improve the public procurement system. Based on the results of this research, they will make adequate recommendations for amendments in the Law or administrative procedures which would facilitate the access of small and medium size enterprises to the public procurement process. Further improvement of the strategic framework for this area will be initiated through revision of the National Strategy for the Sustainable Development of Montenegro which is supposed to be adopted by the Government in 2014 and which will provide guidelines for this area as well. Since the EU plans significant changes in the regulation of these areas after the adoption of new Directives on public procurement, Montenegro will monitor the amendments and align the national legislation and practice according to the EU legislation and the modes of application. Special priority will be given to the alignment with the European practices in using public procurement for stimulating innovations (pre-commercial procurement), which has not been so far defined by the national legislation. 8. Common Procurement Vocabulary Since 1 January 2013, Montenegro completely assumed the existing acquis , which defines the common public procurement vocabulary. Montenegro is completely prepared to monitor amendments and make amendments in line with the acquis and the manner of application related to the area of the common public procurement vocabulary. 9. Procurement in the area of defence Since the public procurement in the area of defence is not aligned with the acquis, Montenegro will provide alignment in this area through amendments to the Law on Public


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Procurement which were planned to be adopted by the end of the fourth quarter of this year. Montenegro is fully ready to assume the acquis in this area until the date of the EU accession.