Laws and regulations

The public procurement system is prescribed by the Law on Public Procurement, bylaws issued on the basis of this Law as well as on the standard forms and forms related to the application procedure, and they are published in the Official Gazette of Montenegro No. 42/11, 57/14, 23/15, 31/15, 24/15, 57/14, 29/15, 56/15 and 80/15, 9/16, 49/17, 52/17, 54/17, 74/17 and 23/19.


The Law on Public Procurement regulates the conditions, manner and procedure of procurement of goods and services and awarding work assignments, protection of rights in public procurement procedures and other issues of relevance for public procurement. The Public Procurement Administration of Montenegro is state body responsible for the public procurement in Montenegro.

 

 This Law shall apply to:

 

1)   state administration bodies, local self-government units, public services and other beneficiaries of the Budget of Montenegro, that is the Budget of the local self-government unit and other public funds performing tasks of public interest;

2) business organizations which fulfil the following conditions:

a) they have the status of legal entity,

b) they were established to perform activities of public interest and do not carry out industrial or commercial activity and

c) where the state, or a local self-government unit possesses over 50% of the shares or stake in that business organization or legal entity, or they are funded by the state, or a local self-government or other contracting authority by more than 50% from the Budget of Montenegro, local self-government unit and other public funds or where the contracting authority supervises the operation of that business organization or where more than half the members of that business organization or legal entity's managing body or supervisory body are appointed by the contracting authority;

3) business organizations, legal entities and entrepreneurs performing business activities in the fields of water management, energy, transport and postal traffic in accordance with the provisions in Articles 108 to 113 of this Law.                                        

By the way of exception to paragraph 1 item 1 of this Article, for diplomatic and consular missions of Montenegro abroad, military-diplomatic representatives and units of the army of Montenegro in the international forces and peacekeeping missions as well as for other activities performed abroad, the types of public procurement procedures as well as the manner of their conducting shall be regulated by the regulations of the Government of Montenegro (hereinafter: the Government).

An administrative authority responsible for public procurement activities (hereinafter referred to as: competent public authority) shall prepare a list of covered parties referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article. 

The newly established contracting authority is obliged to submit an application to the competent public authority in purpose of its inclusion into the List of contracting authorities, no later than 30 days from the date on which it acquired the status of a contracting authority.

 The list of covered parties referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article shall be published at the public procurement portal of the competent state authority (hereinafter: public procurement portal). 

 The list of covered parties shall be updated within three days as of the day of submission of the application referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article. The contracting authorities are obliged to implement this Law even in the cases when they are not included in the List referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article.

Types of procedure

 Public procurement procedures are as follows:

1) open procedure;

2) restricted procedure;

3) negotiated procedure with prior publication of a contract notice;

4) negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice

5) contest.

 The contracting authority shall apply the public procurement procedures for the following procurement:

1) of the goods and services whose estimated value of the public procurement is equal to or exceeds EUR 15,000.00; and

2) of the works whose estimated value of the public procurement is equal to or exceeds EUR 30,000.00.

 The contracting authority shall perform the procurement of goods, services and works below the values referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article (hereinafter: low-value procurement) in accordance with the Article 30 of this Law, unless that contracting authority performs some of the procedures listed in Article 20 of this Law. The contracting authority may not divide a subject of public procurement if it represents a whole, with an intention of avoiding application of this Law.

The contracting authority may, without conducting the procedures set out in Article 20 of this Law, carry out urgent procurement, with an aim of eliminating and reducing the risk of unforeseen events on which the contracting authority could not or cannot influence, removing the consequences of such unforeseen events, threat to health and life of citizens, provided that it has not been able to conduct the public procurement procedure and to act within the time limits defined by this Law.

The procedure established by the special act of the contracting authority shall be applied to the procurement referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, respecting the public procurement principles. The contracting authority shall publish the act referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article on its website. The form and content of the act referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article shall be determined by the Ministry.

The procedure established by the special act of the contracting authority shall be applied to the low-value procurement, respecting the public procurement principles. The contracting authority shall publish the act referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article on its website. Upon application of the low-value procurement, the contracting authority shall ensure an appropriate time limit for a bidder to submit the bid, which may not be shorter than three working days. The form and content of the act referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall be determined by the Ministry.

Tender documents
Tender documents, depending on the type of procedure and the subject of public procurement shall contain:

1) contract notice, or invitation to tender;

2) technical characteristics or specifications of the subject of public procurement, or the bill of quantities of works, which include: quantity and description of goods, works and services and other important properties of the subject of public procurement, time limits and place of execution of the contracts, quality assurance, manner of execution of quality control, data pertaining to the technical documentation according to which the public procurement contract will be executed and data on the availability of such documentation;

3) contracting authority’s statement that it will duly settle obligations in respect of the selected bidder;

4) statements of persons referred to in Article 16 paragraph 2 of this Law on the non-existence of conflict of interest;

5) methodology of evaluation of bids by criteria and sub criteria;

6) form for the financial part of the bid;

7) forms for proofs prepared by bidders (statement on the non-existence of conflict of interest referred to in Article 17 of this Law; lists, statements and certifications on the fulfilment of conditions pertaining to professional, technical and staffing capability, etc.);

 8) draft framework agreement and draft public procurement contract, except in the case of procurement of loans where tender documents include the contracting authority’s loan application based on which the bidders submit draft contracts

9) instruction for bidders on the preparation and submission of bids.

10) content of a bid;

11) instruction on legal remedy.

Tender documents for the first phase of the restricted public procurement procedure shall contain:

1) invitation for pre-qualification;

2) instruction on how to prepare and submit applications;

3) methodology for determining the qualifications.

Invitation for pre-qualification shall contain the data on: contracting authority, subject of public procurement, estimated value of the public procurement, awarding of framework agreement, language used in bids, Internet page on which the tender documents will be published; conditions for the participation in public procurement procedure; evidence to prove the fulfilment of envisaged requirements and statements on the non-existence of conflict of interest given by persons referred to in Article 16 paragraph 2 of this Law.

In addition to the elements referred to in paragraph 1, items 2 to 11 of this Article, tender documents for the second phase of the restricted public procurement procedure shall contain the invitation for submission of bids. Invitation referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article shall contain data on the following: possibility of submission of bids by lots, possibility of submission of alternative bids, criterion and sub-criteria for evaluation of bids, obligatory submission of contract performance guarantee and other guarantees, time limit for the submission of bids, time limit for the public opening of bids, time period of validity of bid.

Contracting authority shall mark by ordinal numbers all first pages of the sheets and the total number of sheets of the tender documents.

 The form of tender documents shall be prescribed by the Ministry.                                                          .   

 
 Limits in Public Procurement Procedure

A contracting authority shall set a deadline for bid submission in the contract notice, invitation to public tender and in the tender documents. Setting the time limit referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article shall mean setting the date and hour by which bids may be submitted. 

Deadline for the submission of bids shall start running on the day following the day of publication of tender documents, that is, the day of delivery of tender documents. Sundays and public holidays do not obstruct the beginning and the course of the time limits. In case that the last day of the time limit is Sunday or a public holiday or some other non- working day of the contracting authority, the time limit shall expire upon expiry of the following working day. 

Deadline for the submission of bids in an open public procurement procedure shall not be shorter than 37 days from the day of publishing of tender documents on the Public Procurement Portal. Deadline for the submission of bids referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article may be reduced by the contracting authority when so required by urgent nature of public procurement, where such reduction is not provoked by fault on the part of the contracting authority, but, it may not be less than 22 days from the day of publishing of tender documents on the Public Procurement Portal. The contracting authority shall provide in the contract notice or invitation to tender an explanation of the reasons of urgency because of which they have reduced the time limit for the submission of bids referred to in paragraph 1 of Article 90. 

Deadline for the submission of applications for prequalification in a restricted public procurement procedure shall not be shorter than 37 days from the day of publication of tender documents for the first phase of restricted procedure on the Public Procurement Portal. Deadline for the submission of bids in a restricted public procurement procedure shall not be shorter than 22 days from the day of delivery of tender documents for the second phase of restricted procedure to the qualified applicants.

Deadline for the submission of bids in a negotiated procedure with or without prior publication of contract notice, except in cases referred to in Article 25 paragraph 1 item 1 indents 2 and 3 of this Law, shall not be shorter than 22 days from the day of publication of tender documents for invitation to tender by negotiations on the Public Procurement Portal, or the day of delivery of tender documents for invitation to tender by negotiations to the interested parties. 

The contracting authority may, without conducting the procedures set out in Article 20 of this Law, carry out urgent procurement, with an aim of eliminating and reducing the risk of unforeseen events on which the contracting authority could not or cannot influence, removing the consequences of such unforeseen events, threat to health and life of citizens, provided that it has not been able to conduct the public procurement procedure and to act within the time limits defined by this Law. The procedure established by the special act of the contracting authority shall be applied to the procurement referred to in paragraph 1 of Article 29, respecting the public procurement principles. The contracting authority shall publish the act referred to in paragraph 2 of Article 29 on its website.

The form and content of the act referred to in paragraph 2 of Article 29 shall be determined by the Ministry.   

    

Links/Documents

Public Procurement Administration of Montenegropublishes on its portal a public procurement plan for the current financial year, tender documents, decisions on qualification of candidates, decisions on the selection of the most favorable bid, decision on termination of the public procurement procedure, decisions on cancellation of the public procurement procedure, public procurement contracts, i.e. amendments to the plan, tender documents, decisions and contracts as well as taking other actions and measures.

    

 

        

 Law on public procurement  
Rulebook on the forms in public procurement procedures 

Contact
Public Procurement Administration of Montenegro
Jovana Tomaševića 2
81000 Podgorica
Tel.  +382 20 245 798
Fax. +382 20 245 549
Email: ujn@ujn.gov.me
Web: www.ujn.gov

 

 
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