FOTO/VIDEO  Following a multimillion job from the Mostar University “Promark” had to get another worth 730 thousands marks

University in Mostar awarded yet another job to Mostar’s “Promark”, this time worth BAM 729.977 without VAT. The award of the contract refers to works on the reconstruction and extension of the SUMIT building in Rodoč, which was already awarded to the aforementioned company. Back in 2021, as a consortium they led, they got a job worth over 4 million marks without VAT.

As stated in the tender documentation, the University of Mostar has carried out the negotiation process for additional works in the process of “works on the reconstruction and extension of the SUMIT building in Rodoč”, which were not included in the originally concluded contract and which became necessary for the performance of the described works and cannot, technically or economically, be separated from the basic contract without major inconveniences for the contracting authority.

The Mostar construction company “Promark” did not even have to “negotiate” this job, since it was explicitly stated that they were the only option due to the previous contracts. Thus, they were the only ones that sent the bid and as such did not have any competition. According to the contractual provisions, the deadline for completion  is 90 days this time.

To what is the University referencing?

Three years ago, the rector of the University of Mostar, Zoran Tomić, gave to Promark of Ante Vidačak a job worth 4.298.631 marks for the reconstruction of a building in Rodoč, where Elektroprivreda, headed by then director Marinko Gilja, had also occupied a floor.

The University of Mostar refers here to the conditions set forth by the Law on the Application of the “Negotiation Procedure without Publication of the Procurement Notice”, citing unforeseen works as the reason.

“Additional, i.e. unforeseen works on the reconstruction and extension of the SUMIT building in Rodoč in accordance with the amended rehabilitation and reconstruction project include the execution of additional construction and construction craft works of electrical installations and mechanical installations, together with a new heating and cooling system for the entire building and represent an inseparable unit of the works’ execution defined by the basic contract, and include the demolition of reinforced concrete elements of the existing building, demolition and dismantling of partition walls and plasterboard walls, dismantling of internal and external openings and metalwork, dismantling of hydraulic installations and sanitary equipment, dismantling of external and internal hydrant networks, dismantling of thermotechnical installations, dismantling of electrical installations (except stage technology and electrical installations for the needs of the auditorium and stage functioning), constructive rehabilitation of the existing building and installation of lightning protection installation in the new foundations of the building”, read the tender documentation that was published on the public procurement portal referring to the procedure 1197-1-3-145/21.

This legally legal maneuver was not used for the first time when it comes to Promark and public procurement. A similar thing happened with the construction of the Croatian national theater in Mostar, when Promark got a job worth around 4 million marks, although the estimated value was around 5 million marks, but it is legally permissible to give the same contractor a new job if the value of the work fits into 20 percent of the total value of the contract.

What was in the procedure 1197-1-3-145/21?

The University headed by rector Tomić had in October of 2021 published a tender for the reconstruction of a worn down building on the university campus in Rodoč, and bids were submitted by “Hering” from Široki Brijeg in a consortium with two other companies and “Promark”  from Mostar, which led a consortium of  three companies. The consortium led by Hering dropped out of the game due to bank accounts, which the University considered a gross violation of an article in the tender documents.

Rector Tomić  then announced the sale of a floor in the worn down building in Rodoč, with a starting price of one million and 200 thousand marks, and an advance for the participants in the amount of 120 thousand marks. It soon became known that the floor was bought by Elektroprivreda HZ HB, i.e. the director Marinko Gilja. At first, Elektroprivreda did not want to confirm this, but in the end they clearly stated that they were the buyers of a floor in a worn down building, which they did not need, but then it had seemed as a good cover to transfer the money to the University.

University sold a gift from the Federation 

The building that was sold, and that has been under reconstruction for years, is actually a building in the barracks “Stanislav Baja Kraljević” in Mostar on a plot marked as cadaster plot 2589/1, K.O. Rodoč, with a total area of 591.06 m2, which the Government of the Federation made available to the University of Mostar in 2015.

With the entry into force of that decision, the University of Mostar is authorized to initiate, independently and in its own name, all procedures related to the registration of ownership rights in land registers and cadastral records. It was expected, at least that is how the decision sounds, that the University of Mostar would use the building  for the purposes of University development, but they decided to sell a part of what they got for free. 

Continuation of sale

The University of Mostar had on September 13, 2023 published a call for sale of its property on its official website, and as it can be read from the documents, two office spaces of 201 and 274 square meters are up for sale.

According to them, the initial purchase price of business premises amounts to 940 thousand marks (including VAT).

The deadline for submission of applications was relatively short, i.e. until September 27, 2023, when a public tender was to be held by the Commission in charge of conducting the tender procedure. However, although the short deadline raises suspicions that a potential buyer has already been agreed upon, it seems that he has not yet been found, at least judging by the University's official newsletters.

Also, it is not stated whether it is the same building in which the floor was already sold to Elektroprivreda, and which was presented to the public as a building that will benefit the development of the University.

SUMIT on hold

SUMIT, as the flagship of the technological progress of the University of Mostar, will most likely have to wait to move into adequate premises. SUMIT, led by Professor Tomislav Volarić, should be implementing the praiseworthy and necessary digitization of education. As agreed, the SUMIT center in the Rodoč campus should be the hub for the digitization of primary and secondary schools in the Croatian language.

The reconstruction is not going right, and it has also caught the eye of the Federation auditors.

“Based on the decision of the company’s management, a contract was concluded in 2021 with the University of Mostar on the purchase of a portion of the property with a total price of BAM 1.200.000 and an advance payment in the amount of BAM 600.000 was made. According to the signed contract, the seller was obliged to reconstruct the property by November 30, 2022, which was not observed. The deadline was extended until June 30, 2023, but the contractual obligation was not fulfilled until the completion of the audit. Upon inspection of the documentation, we were not convinced that the Management had undertaken activities and used all measures in accordance with the signed contract aimed at realization of the contract and efficient use of public funds”, wrote auditors. In short, the University received half of the amount, but the reconstruction has not been completed. Elektroprivreda does nothing in this matter to protect its interests.

Although the original deadline was until the end of 2022, and then until the middle of 2023, it is not likely that the  works on the SUMIT building could be completed even in 2024.

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