In the interest of accurately informing the public, we are obliged to respond to the article published today on the “Standard” portal and present the true facts regarding the contract signed, as described in the article “CEDIS FOLLOWING IN SOLAR GRADNJA’S FOOTSTEPS: Signed a cybersecurity contract with a DODIK-OWNED company under sanctions!”
The Montenegrin Electricity Distribution System concluded the Contract for the Procurement of Goods: System for Collecting and Automatically Analysing Security Logs for IT Equipment with the joint bid submitted by “Infinity ITSS and Energy” d.o.o. Podgorica – “Prointer ITSS” d.o.o. Banja Luka – a member of Infinity International Group, at the end of last year, specifically on 1 December. The contract was also carried out in accordance with the terms set out in the tender documentation. Following the review, evaluation and assessment of the bid, as well as the receipt of evidence from the competent institutions, the bid submitted by the aforementioned bidder was deemed compliant.
Considering the date on which the contract was signed and referring to the claims made in the article (June 2024), it is clear that CEDIS could not have known, either at the time the contract was signed or during its implementation, that the aforementioned bidders had been placed on the EU and US blacklists.
Nevertheless, as we have explained previously, under the applicable legislation, whether a bidder is on a particular country’s “blacklist” is not relevant to the public procurement procedure itself. In any event, in every procedure the contracting authority verifies whether the bidder has met the mandatory conditions for participation in the public procurement procedure stipulated by law, i.e. it requests evidence of a clean criminal record, payment of taxes, registration and possession of a licence to conduct business, where required.
We would like to take this opportunity to reiterate that the Montenegrin Electricity Distribution System concluded three contracts with the bidder “Infinity ITSS and Energy”, two of which were fully completed well before the “blacklist information” emerged, while the other—the only contract that was still active at the time—was terminated on 4 September of this year.
Once again, we ask all media representatives to obtain accurate and precise information before writing and publishing articles about our Company by contacting CEDIS’s PR Service, which will provide answers to all questions and concerns within the requested timeframe. CEDIS is always open and transparent with the media, so there is no need for sensationalism: whenever you contact our Company, you will receive timely, accurate and precise information.
