Krvavac: Ministry of Finance approval required for all service contract engagements

The inaugural session of the Commission for the analysis and monitoring of service contracts and contracts for temporary and occasional work in public sector entities funded by the state budget was held. During the session, it was emphasized that by the end of 2025, such contracts would be reduced by at least 20%.

The Commission established a standardized form for submitting requests for engagement under service contracts and contracts for temporary and occasional work, based on which they will be reviewed.

All public sector entities are required to submit, along with their requests, the Ministry of Finance’s approval for secured financial resources.

The Commission concluded that no public sector entity will receive funds from the state budget if it fails to follow the prescribed procedure. The Ministry’s approval and the Commission’s consent will apply for a period of three months.

This approach will ensure continuous monitoring of engagements based on service contracts and contracts for temporary and occasional work. This is the first step towards comprehensive optimization and rationalization of public administration, stated the Commission’s president, Branko Krvavac.

The Commission noted that budget-funded entities had not provided complete data on the existing number of service contracts and contracts for temporary and occasional work. They have until 7 March 2025 to comply.

The next step involves analyzing all existing contracts and requests for new ones. What is already clear is that in the future, there will be no hiring under service contracts or contracts for temporary and occasional work in public administration without prior approval from the Ministry of Finance for allocated budgetary resources, as well as approval from the Commission, said Krvavac.

In March this year, the Commission will already have data on the reduction in service contracts and temporary and occasional work contracts compared to December 2024, the reference month for these measures. It will also assess the corresponding decrease in budget spending.

The goal of the Commission’s work is to establish a mechanism for the regular monitoring of the total number of engagements under service contracts and contracts for temporary and occasional work, and their justification, in order to ultimately reduce abuse and the allocation of budget resources for these purposes.