The State Audit Office (SAO) has approached the State Police regarding the purchase of protective equipment by the National Health Service (NSS) in March, the SAO was informed by journalists on Monday.
The State Audit Office audited the process of purchasing personal protective equipment – protective masks and respirators – in the health department in the period from the beginning of March to the beginning of April, when it was taken over by the defense department.
The auditors have concluded that in the process of delivering protective equipment by the health department, in several cases, one-person decision-making has taken place, there has been a lack of transparency in explaining the evaluation criteria of suppliers, which leads to suspicions of possible corruption risks.
The SAO pointed out that the first case of Covid-19 in Latvia was diagnosed on March 2, and already on March 3, the Cabinet of Ministers allocated 1.2 million euros to enable the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) to purchase medical equipment, personal protective equipment, medicines for epidemiological security needs. Part of this funding was also intended to replenish the state material reserves.
“However, given the critical situation in Europe, the NMPD managed to purchase only 48% of the planned protective masks and 12% of the respirators,” the auditors noted.
The NMPD and NVD relied primarily on health department calculations and needs when purchasing personal protective equipment. At the same time, the NSAs purchased protective equipment with a reserve so that the stocks would be available for as long as possible and part of them could be diverted to other departments. In the assessment of the SAO, until March 27, it was not known how many and what kind of personal protective equipment is needed at the state level.
The audit authority acknowledged that the procurement of health care products was carried out by the health department in circumstances where swift and decisive action had to be taken, but no requirements for procurement were defined at national or health level, so that facilitated procurement was limited to within the competence and responsibility of the particular acquirer.
Assessing the procurement process in the NSS, the auditors of the State Audit Office concluded that one-person decisions were allowed in the health department, thus creating a risk of corruption. “Although the NSA set up a working group on the procurement of remedies by oral order of the Director, the auditors were unable to obtain any documentation on its activities. In addition, decisions on contracts with specific suppliers were taken by the Director alone, informing the crisis management authorities. institutions, thus receiving indirect support, “said the audit authority.
Also with regard to the observance of the supplier selection criteria set by the NSS for the selection of five specific suppliers, the SAO has not been able to obtain documentary evidence, although the criteria for suppliers were set. The State Audit Office emphasizes that throughout the process, the actions and decisions of decision-makers were not documented to a minimum – agreements with suppliers were made orally, by telephone, using the WhatsApp application and the like.
“Decision-making is not traceable and cannot be assessed by audit methods. Possible corrupt activities should be identified by operational methods. All information obtained in the audit has been passed on by the State Audit Office to the State Police Economic Crime Board, which has initiated a departmental inspection, including there is no collusion on the choice of suppliers, “the auditors informed.
Also, during the procurement process, the NSA did not publish information on all bids received, but only on 65 suppliers, indicating that the list would be supplemented. This leads the State Audit Office to conclude that this limited the industry’s ability to follow and monitor the acquisition process, which could reduce corruption risks and allay public concerns.
At the same time, the State Audit Office positively evaluates the actions of the NMPD and NSS in a situation where health protection services, on their own initiative, organized sample quality testing, involving universities, hospital laboratories, the Consumer Protection Center and the Health Inspectorate. “Admittedly, not all batches of goods were inspected,” the auditors concluded.
LETA has already reported that in connection with the Covid-19 pandemic in Latvia from March 13 to June 9, an emergency situation was declared. According to the Ministry of Finance, by mid-July, the state had provided nearly a billion euros in funding to alleviate the crisis caused by Covid-19.
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