The Jandák ministry changed the procurement system for the worse

Prague - The Ministry of Culture, under its former leadership, modified the procedure for awarding public contracts. Tenders were to be issued exclusively by the ministry itself, while subsidiary organizations would be required to sign contracts with the selected company for the project, thus bearing responsibility as well. The result of this methodology was to be a contract worth 1.9 million crowns for the preparation of the tender for the reconstruction of the National Museum. However, the museum director Michal Lukeš considered the winning bid to be overpriced, did not sign the contract, and the company subsequently reduced the price to about one-tenth.
    The contract was for "the creation of tender documentation for public contract awarding and consultancy within the open procedure for the public contract for the selection of a project manager for the reconstruction of the National Museum buildings." The museum has long been struggling with a lack of funds, and the originally requested amount corresponds to the sum the institution received from the state this year for the basic maintenance of a long-neglected building, after pieces of decoration fell from the façade in summer.
    Under the leadership of Vítězslav Jandák, the Ministry of Culture determined that it would be the central contracting authority for tenders. Previously, this was done by individual subsidiary organizations. The change in methodology was pointed out a few days ago by the newly appointed first deputy minister Zdeněk Novák. According to him, the "strange directive that influenced the awarding of public contracts in the ministry" was signed by Jandák on May 29, and his successor Martin Štěpánek revoked it on October 31 at Novák's suggestion. The proposed contract with the National Museum was, according to Novák, the result of this agreement.
    “The ministry issued a tender for a sub-threshold contract, i.e., up to two million crowns, and selected the company Gordion,” Lukeš told ČTK. The then first deputy minister František Formánek informed Lukeš of the selection of the company and told him that he should sign a contract with the company.
    “We were not satisfied with the sum. We then negotiated with the company after obtaining the ministry's consent and brought the price down to 150,000 crowns plus VAT,” Lukeš said. According to him, the original price, which reportedly surprised even the ministry officials, was justified by the company as the reconstruction would be a project of international significance and that costs would rise if foreign firms entered the bidding.
    Pavel Robek, the director of Gordion, told ČTK that during the price negotiations, the volume of work for which the contract was created was reduced. In setting the original price, the company relied on its experience with a similar contract and the price at which it had implemented it for other clients. According to his words, the company considers the contract to be one of the most significant this year. “The company does not spend any funds on promotion and advertising; the saved funds intended for promotional activities and advertising enable the execution of this contract at a reference price,” he added.
    The reconstruction of the National Museum, which will cost four billion crowns, is to be prepared in the next five years, with the actual construction taking place from 2011 to 2015. Next year, the museum is expected to start drawing on one billion crowns that the government released from the National Property Fund. However, the reconstruction of the building is also associated with a fundamental overhaul of the interior and exhibits and the relocation of millions of collection items to temporary storage.