In the last three years Road and Motorway Directorate paid CZK 357 million for legal services
Press Release – September 30, 2013
The Supreme Audit Office performed an audit of the Road and Motorway Directorate of the Czech Republic (RMD) and its management during the period from 2010 to March 2013. Auditors scrutinized expenditures of the general directorate, motorway divisions in Prague and Brno, and regional investment road administrations in Jihlava, Karlovy Vary, Pardubice, and Plzen. Auditors focused on costs of computer technologies, office materials, cleaning services, and legal advisory services and consultations.
During the audited period, expenditures related to legal advisory services significantly rose at the RMD’s general directorate. From 2010 to 2011, the annual costs of legal services increased from CZK 81 million to CZK 132 million, i. e. by 62 %. In 2012, the costs increased by further 9 % to CZK 144 million. The total expenses of legal services purchased by the general directorate made CZK 357 million in the last three years.
The general directorate made framework agreements with four legal advisory agencies. On the basis of the agreements, implementing clauses related to particular services were concluded with individual experts. The total amount of 21 implementing clauses worth CZK 109 million were concluded with one particular expert; 17 clauses were concluded just before the framework agreement’s termination in November 2010.
Auditors revealed that the services purchased on the basis of 9 out of 17 above mentioned clauses were not in accordance with the framework agreement or the implementing clauses. For example, one expert created a picture to illustrate a guideline and charged CZK 3,500 an hour (the price made CZK 7,000 in total), a diagram illustrating a guideline (for CZK 1,750), and moved archive files two floors up (for CZK 29,750). The general directorate could not tell the auditors, which services had been procured on the basis of three implementing clauses.
The general directorate also divided a procurement concerning consultancy in the field of crisis management worth CZK 4.8 million in total to seven minor contracts so that the value of each individual order did not exceed the limit stipulated for above-the-threshold public contracts. Simplified below-the-threshold procedure was used instead of a competition. Such a course of action is not in compliance with the Act on Public Procurement.
The RMD allowed its employees to use company automobiles for private purposes without charging them any fees. At the general directorate, 22 company automobiles were used for personal use while 31 automobiles were used for personal purposes at audited divisions and administrations. Records of those drivers showed that on average, from one fourth to one third of driven kilometres covered personal purposes. With some automobiles, the share of private driving made up to 85 %.
Auditors revealed that regular operation expenses varied at individual departments. For example, annual maintenance and service costs of one automobile made CZK 13,000 at the regional investment road administrations in Plzen, while the costs made CZK 25,000 at the motorway division in Prague in spite the automobiles were of the same age and the automobiles from Plzen travelled more than the ones in Prague (by one quarter). On average, the regional investment road administrations in Jihlava paid CZK 8,000 for computer technology materials per a person for a year while at the motorway division in Prague, the average only amounted to CZK 3,000.
Annual prices of rented estates where petrol service stations were situated varied greatly as well. For example, the RMD began to lease an estate in Rokycany in 1994 for CZK 113 per one square meter a year. The price was repeatedly decreased in subsequent agreement amendments. In the time of the auditing operation, the price was CZK 37 per one square meter for a year – which was 67 % less than in 1994.
For further details about auditing operation No. 12/31 (in Czech only), see the following link: http://www.nku.cz/assets/media/informace-12-31.pdf (pdf 290 kB).
Communication Department
Supreme Audit Office