Million-dollar dialyzer procurement contracts for the needs of the Health Insurance and Reinsurance Institute of FBiH have been distributed over the past four years without any tender to existing suppliers whose contracts had expired, due to an alleged misunderstanding between the Institute and the Federal Ministry of Health. Transparency International in BiH (TI BiH) has long exerted pressure on institutions to resolve this problem, and the controversial regulation that was hindering dialyzer procurement has finally been amended.
The last dialyzer procurement was conducted in 2016, and since 2019, no attempts have been made to implement it at all, with the Institute distributing millions without any tender to companies that had contracts until then.
The problem arose due to one provision in the Regulation[1] that regulates the operation of institutions performing dialysis, which requires that dialyzers be procured from two different manufacturers. The Institute, however, included an additional condition in tender documentation requiring that procurement must be carried out through different bidders.
Due to this, the Office for Review of Appeals overturned numerous tenders, so the Institute stopped conducting them and requested the competent Ministry to interpret how to apply the regulation. For more than two years, the Ministry refused to provide an opinion to the Institute, contracts were distributed without tenders, and TI BiH received numerous complaints from bidders who wanted to offer these services and pointed out that the problem was not being resolved because such a situation suited someone. TI BiH reported the case to the Public Procurement Agency because expired contracts were being illegally extended.
Also, after numerous unsuccessful appeals to the Ministry, at the beginning of March this year, TI BiH also wrote to the Administrative Inspection, which should determine why the Institute does not receive a response from the relevant Ministry even after eight urgent requests. This was followed by a reaction, and on March 14, the Ministry amended the Regulation which no longer requires the procurement of consumable materials for dialysis from at least two different bidders.
With the entry into force of these amendments on March 26, 2022, the Health Insurance Institute is able to conduct public procurement procedures for this equipment on which people’s lives and health depend.
[1] Regulation on conditions regarding space, personnel and medical-technical equipment for establishing and organizing work in health institutions that perform dialysis activities
