“The published data show, among other things, that in terms of financial volume, most of the municipality’s public contracts in 2011 concerned transport – 46 percent worth 2.5 billion crowns – and the city’s contributory organizations were construction, namely 41 percent worth 665 million crowns, “said Prague Councilor Adam Zábranský (Pirates), who is involved in inspecting the city.

By far the largest order last year was the selection of a carrier for the new city railway lines S49 and S61. He won the 2.4 billion crowns competition at the end of last year’s RegioJet, which defeated Czech Railways and Arriva in the tender. The carrier will purchase seven new trains and will operate the line for fifteen years.

Masaryk Railway Station major modernization project

The second largest contract was the construction of a footbridge between Holešovice and Karlín for 300 million crowns. But there are a number of operational orders that can be found, from clothing for police officers to legal services for civil servants. For example, a framework contract for the annual supply of refreshments to the municipality building was issued for three quarters of a million.

The overview includes contracts announced directly by the municipality and its contributory organizations, such as the city police, the Prague ambulance, theaters, schools or the zoological and botanical gardens. The municipality also invited the municipal company to share data on contracts, but only the ICT Operator, which operates Lítačka, joined. “For other companies, the response was far from the same,” said Zábranský. Thus, the list does not probably include the largest client among city companies, namely the Prague transport company.

Zábranský also wants to address the issue of conflicts of interest and is preparing a new regulation for this. “The aim is to set up a system that will ensure that contracts are not won by politicians who have a government function, or by their business, or by some relatives of politicians or municipal officials,” he said. According to him, trade unions should be able to use central purchasing in the future.

Last year, the Prague Council decided that the municipality would announce an open competition for contracts worth half a million crowns. Previously, the limit was much higher, two million for supplies and services, six million for construction work.