By: The Center for Investigative Reporting

Overall amount stands to be higher because in some cases there is no record of the value of the contract. As in the previous years, the biggest contractors were power utilities, fossil-fueled power plants and mines, and other firms from the energy sector.

In order to make data on public spending readily available to the public, reporters from the Center for Investigative Reporting in Sarajevo (CIN) have combined records from the government newspapers and the public procurement web page into a single database that can be easily searched for information on what the institutions have procured, at what price and from whom. The database contains public procurement records between 2011 and 2015.

Out of 647 public institutions and companies which put out tenders last year, the BiH Power Utility has spent the biggest amount of money – 151.4 million KM — to buy machines, materials, hire contractors and draft business proposals. During the same period, the Clinical Center of Sarajevo University concluded the biggest number of individual contracts or 1508 to buy medicaments and medical supplies.

Last year, government agencies and public institutions spent 25.6 million KM on fuel and nearly 8 million KM on vehicles and SUVs.

BiH Ministry of Defense spent 128,341 KM on religious literature and other necessities for religious departments at the ministry and, in some cases, it sponsored pilgrims. The FBiH Ministry of Refugees and Returnees will have spent 1.8 million KM for fruiting berry seedlings and irrigation kits for returnees across BiH over a three-year period.

The biggest amount of public procurement money went to Sarajevo-based firms or more than 170 million KM, followed by Banja Luka-based firms, 113 million KM, and Mostar-based ones, 103.5 million KM.

A single public procurement procedure for the whole country was created 12 years ago and it redefined the way that public money could be spent. At the same time, Public Procurement Agency in BiH and Procurement Review Body were set up to monitor implementation of the public procurement laws and complaint procedure.