Transparency International in BiH has received, based on the Freedom of Information Act, an annex to the public services digitalization contract worth approximately 25.5 million. The annex was signed after the company Sirius 2010 was placed on the US blacklist due to connections with Milorad Dodik, and the Ministry of Transport and Communications of BiH announced that this way enabled the continuation of the digitalization process as the company Odašiljači i veze from Zagreb, as the second consortium member, took over all contract implementation obligations.
In the annex, which Minister Edin Forto signed in September this year with the mentioned Zagreb company and Nimbus Innovations d.o.o from Banja Luka, which assumed all rights, assets, and obligations of the sanctioned Sirius 2010, it states that as of the signing date, all equipment from two out of ten contract chapters has been delivered, specifically Chapter 3 – Locations for analog broadcasting and Chapter 4 Information-Technical Centers, while the total values of delivered equipment are concealed in the annex copy provided to TI BiH.
Since this equipment has already been invoiced, the annex stipulates that the Ministry will return the equipment to Nimbus Innovations, which will cancel the issued invoices. Then the Zagreb company will take over the mentioned equipment and deliver it back to the Ministry within three days.
Under the assumption that the Zagreb and Banja Luka companies will regulate their mutual relations, in this way, according to TI BiH’s opinion, the Ministry has enabled the circumvention of US sanctions and jeopardized public interest, risking potential OFAC reaction.
We remind that Sirius 2010 d.o.o. Banja Luka was the leader of the consortium with the Zagreb company “Odašiljači i veze” which submitted a bid of approximately 25.5 million KM for the procurement of digital transmission and broadcasting equipment for the Public RTV Services Digitalization Project.
The contract annex states that “Odašiljači i veze” d.o.o. has submitted statements and certificates proving the technical and professional capability required by the tender documentation, demonstrating their ability to independently continue the contract implementation and fulfill all outstanding obligations.
Although a cheaper bid was received for the tender, the Ministry ultimately decided to choose the more expensive bidder, and the Office for Appeals Review rejected the appeal submitted by the consortium of four companies: “MIBO komunikacije” d.o.o. Sarajevo, “Roaming Networks” d.o.o. Banja Luka, “UNIS telekomunikacije” d.d. Mostar, and “Flame Data Technologies” SRL Romania.
Eventually, the contract was awarded to the consortium led by Sirius 2010 d.o.o., which later ended up on OFAC’s blacklist, with claims that it was part of Milorad Dodik’s family network, who used his political influence to direct million-worth contracts to the network of companies he controls.
