The government awarded €371.7 million worth of contracts in 2015, just over double the amount for 2014.

However, the number of contracts was only 37 per cent higher, meaning that the average for each contract was much higher: €780,000 in 2015 compared with €525,000 in 2014.

The figures only cover contracts handled by the Department of Contracts, and do not include tenders issued directly by contracting authorities where the budget falls under the department’s threshold, or entities like Mita, the Grand Harbour Regeneration Corporation and local councils.

Since 2013, the Department of Contracts has been trying to simplify procedures and reduce bureaucracy associated with procurement, particularly when it comes to the administrative burdens on economic operators. There has also been a concerted effort to make it easier for SMEs to bid for contracts.

Since then, the department – which has also restructured internally – issued 23 procurement policy notices and 18 circulars to streamline procedures.

Some of the changes were considerable, such as the removal of the participation fee or cost related to purchase the tender document, the elimination of the bid bond where the value of the tender is under €500,000 (exclusive of VAT) and the removal of past experience requested from economic operators to qualify for a tender with a value under €500,000 (exclusive of VAT).

Apart from the benefit to economic operators, the system is also much more transparent

More recently changes were also made to reduce the performance guarantee, for all public contracts signed after December 1, 2015, below the value of €500,000 (exclusive of VAT), and to introduce the concept of a single bond for multiple contracts.

Three more legal notices are planned to align the Maltese public procurement regulations with the new EU Public Procurement Directives, which will yet again simplify the system. The Department of Contracts is liaising with the Public Contracts Review Board to ensure that the new EU directives will come into force before April 2016.

Anthony Cachia, head of contracts, believes that all these measures are in the public interest. “A more efficient and effective public procurement system is geared towards increasing economic operators’ participation, thus increasing competition, while at the same time guaranteeing good value for public funds,” he said.

Of course, the changes made since 2013 are not the first attempt to improve the system. A major change had been the introduction of electronic tendering in 2011, which has now become the government’s main tool for the procurement of supplies, services and works.

The latest figures up to the end of November 2015 show that over 14,800 electronic tenders were published online, involving 3,000 bidders.

“Apart from the benefit to economic operators – most visible in terms of a reduction in operational administrative costs – the system is also much more transparent as throughout the process, economic operators have all the information at hand.”

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