The General Inspectorate of Finance launches extensive investigations into “public transaction advances”

The General Inspectorate of Finance opened expanded investigations into “advancements” for deals belonging to public institutions, after two disbursement orders refused to mark advance amounts for the benefit of contractors and construction and works companies, in accordance with the requirements of Article 5 of Decree No. 2.14.272, relating to advances in the field of public transactions.

Hespress learned from informed sources that the ongoing investigations by inspectors have interacted with an increase in complaints filed by contractors and construction and works companies to the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the National Committee for Public Orders, explaining that these complaints concerned the decrease in the value of advances and the imposition of their payment in installments, which harmed the interests of the complainants. In light of the high costs of contracted projects and the pressure on the treasury of the aforementioned companies.

The same sources reported that the affected contractors considered the refusal to sign financial advances for public deals to be an obstacle to the implementation of the projects they had contracted for, demanding the need to intervene to address this situation, stressing that the inspection services examined the justifications for the two disbursement orders included in the records of the refusal to sign, and the extent of their response to the legal requirements regulating the deals. Generality.

The decree relating to advances in the field of public transactions set the amount of the advance at 10 percent when the transaction amount is less than or equal to 10 million dirhams, including fees, while the percentage decreases to 5 percent for the transaction amount that exceeds the aforementioned financial ceiling, without exceeding it. The amount of this advance for one transaction is 20 million dirhams, without taking the price review into consideration when calculating the advance amount.

Hespress sources confirmed that the auditing process in the records of the two disbursing officers revealed justifications linked to conditions contained in the tender requests, precisely specifying the percentage and value of the advances, which caused an increase in the number of canceled deals by the aforementioned officials for purely formal reasons, pointing to the imposition of installments of the advance amounts in certain deals. The size of the projects contracted for, and the conditions of joint financing, with the intervention of more than one party.

In a related context, the same sources indicated that the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the National Committee for Public Orders received a large number of complaints during the last period, which included suspicions about the tailoring of public deals to the size of specific companies, most of which are small in size and newly established, and rely on handling and multiple intermediaries in implementing projects. Which led to the disruption of many public works.

The disbursement officials justified their refusal to approve important financial advances for certain projects due to the specificity of the deals and contracts associated with them, as they require passing through different stages, requiring adherence to a strict timetable, which imposes the release of the initial funds in a gradual manner that is compatible with the progress of the contractor and the company in implementing its contractual obligations. .

It is noteworthy that the new investigations opened by the General Inspectorate of Finance fall within the context of its efforts to ensure transparency and integrity in the management of public transactions, and to work to correct errors and improve administrative and technical competencies in public institutions, in order to facilitate the implementation of projects with high quality and efficiency.