Recent reports have uncovered several cases where municipalities did not comply with the public procurement law, including a car park project in Pétange and a number of developments in Hesperange, among them a sports hall. Reporter Marc Hoscheid, who investigated the cases, found evidence that such breaches are not isolated.
When RTL spoke to Jean-Marie Halsdorf, mayor of Pétange, Halsdorf immediately acknowledged that Pétange was not alone and named Hesperange as another municipality with similar issues. Hesperange is led by Diane Adehm, who, like Halsdorf, belongs to the Christian Social People's Party (CSV).
In Hesperange, both the mayor and the opposition said most of Luxembourg's 100 municipalities are in breach of the rules. Adehm even suggested asking Home Affairs Minister Léon Gloden, a CSV member and former mayor of Grevenmacher, about compliance in his own municipality.
Given this system, one might expect the ministry to know which municipalities have recently broken the law. According to the ministry, however, no such list exists. When Hoscheid pressed further, officials did not say which municipalities had been notified during the latest audits.
He suggested several possible reasons: the ministry's IT systems may not be able to produce such reports, officials may want to avoid publicising widespread non-compliance, or, if only a few municipalities are affected, there may be reluctance to single them out.
The public procurement law is meant to ensure that when the state, a municipality or another public body awards a contract, such as for a construction project, the process is transparent and not simply handed to favoured companies.
Competitive tendering is required to guarantee this. The procedure depends largely on the size of the project: those above €5,404,000, for example, fall under European Union rules. Cost is always a key consideration, since public projects should be delivered as economically as possible to protect taxpayers' money.
The consequences of non-compliance are limited. The ministry issues "observations" in audit reports, noting where procedures were not followed correctly. This is intended as guidance to prevent future mistakes, not as punishment.
In theory, private entities such as construction companies that feel disadvantaged can complain to municipal councils, but that did not happen in the Pétange and Hesperange cases. When Hoscheid asked the ministry how often such complaints occur, he was referred to the police and the judiciary.
A parliamentary committee meeting recently heard that the law may be reformed. Hoscheid asked the ministry whether the government is considering actual penalties for non-compliance. The ministry said the European Commission has put forward a proposal for new regulation, but it is too early to give details or commit to specific measures.
