Anti-monopoly office abolishes welfare payment system

Prague, Feb 25 (CTK) - The Czech anti-monopoly office UOHS has abolished the order for the system of welfare payment over mistakes in the relevant tender, UOHS chairman Petr Rafaj told CTK yesterday.

The decision has not yet taken effect.

The UOHS has imposed the ban on the fulfilment of two contract addenda that are connected with the payment of the benefits, Rafaj said.

The labour and social affairs as well as interior ministries are to pay a fine of half million crowns each.

They can appeal the decision to Rafaj within 15 days. His decision will be valid at the moment it is delivered to the parties to the legal proceedings.

Five months after the decision takes effect, the ban on the fulfilment of the addenda will be valid.

UOHS valid verdicts can still be re-examined by the Regional Court in Brno.

Under the former minister Jaromir Drabek (TOP 09) the ministry did not put up a tender, only joined a framework agreement with the firm Fujitsu Technology Solutions.

The Czech Republic has had it since 2008 and it was concluded by the Interior Ministry as the central customer.

"By concluding the addenda, the ministries overstepped the extent of the object of the fulfilment as it was defined in the original framework agreement," Rafaj said.

The ministries ought to have commissioned the fulfilment of the services on the basis of the contracts arisen from a regular tender, he added.

"Their steps could significantly influence the choice of the most suitable offer," Rafaj said.

Drabek has advocated the steps taken by the Labour and Social Affairs Ministry.

He told CTK some time ago he believed that the office had proceeded within the framework of legal regulations.

Drabek said much money to be spent on IT would be saved thanks to the change in the supplier.

The UOHS has reviewed only two addenda, with another four being still on its table. It dealt with the case after being tipped by the company Student Agency.

The Christian Democrats, too, complained about the tender.

The tender plays a role in the charges levelled by the police against dismissed deputy labour and social affairs minister Vladimir Siska.

Along with director of IT department Milan Hojer, Siska is facing bribery charges as he allegedly offered another bid, worth almost 100 million crowns, to the firm OKsystem for withdrawing its complaint from the anti-monopoly office.

($1=19.341 crowns)