Public IT tenders raise many concerns
Public IT tenders, which receive hundreds of millions of euros from EU funds and the state budget, raise many concerns. IT firms Datalan, Tempest, Softip, Accalio and VT Group have won public contracts totaling €200m over the past five years. Despite having the same owners (Peter Kotuliak, Jozef Mokrý and Štefan Petergáč), they often “compete” in public tenders. Smaller firms Softip, Accalio and VT Group are usually the only bidders in tenders they win. GlobalTel, majority owned by the local Danubiatel group, has won two IT contracts for €30m in the past two years, despite having just a single employee. Sofos, eGroup Solutions and elfa have public IT contracts totaling tens of millions of euros too, despite having fewer than 25 workers. Their key competence is in winning public tenders and outsourcing work.