Public procurement in Montenegro covers roughly 95% of public-sector medical-device spend. The framework is set by the national Public Procurement Law and administered by the Department of Public Procurement (Uprava za javne nabavke, ujn.gov.me). This article walks through how a medical-device tender actually works, end to end.
What is the legal framework?
The current Public Procurement Law was published in 2019 and significantly amended in 2023 — see the English consolidated text (PDF). The Law transposes EU procurement directives (2014/24/EU, 2014/25/EU) and is structured around the same procedure types: open, restricted, competitive dialogue, negotiated, and framework agreements.
Who are the contracting authorities?
For medical-device tenders, the four recurring contracting authorities are:
- Clinical Centre of Montenegro (KCCG) — the national reference hospital. Highest individual-tender volumes, broadest specialty coverage. Procurement department issues tenders directly.
- Montefarm — the state-owned pharmacy chain. Procures across all public pharmacies.
- Ministry of Health — issues ministry-level framework agreements and centralised procurements across the public hospital network.
- Regional general hospitals (×7) — Nikšić, Bijelo Polje, Kotor, Bar, Cetinje, Berane, Pljevlja — issue local tenders for routine consumables.
How does an open procedure run, step by step?
- 1. Tender posting. The contracting authority publishes the tender on the UJN portal with the technical specification, deadline, value threshold, and qualification criteria.
- 2. Questions period. Bidders submit clarification questions within the published window (typically 1–2 weeks). The contracting authority publishes answers visible to all bidders.
- 3. Bid submission. Bids are submitted via the UJN electronic portal before the deadline (typically 3–4 weeks after posting for standard tenders).
- 4. Technical evaluation. The contracting authority reviews each bid against the technical specification. Bids that fail compliance are excluded.
- 5. Price evaluation and award. Among compliant bids, the lowest qualifying price wins (or the most-economically-advantageous tender, where MEAT criteria apply).
- 6. Standstill and signature. A 10-day standstill period allows for appeals via the Commission for the Control of Public Procurement Procedures. The contract is signed after standstill expires.
What goes into a tender pack?
A standard medical-device tender pack contains the manufacturer authorisation letter, CInMED device registration, ISO 9001 + ISO 14001 certificates, the technical specification dossier matching the tender requirements, a sample of product labelling and IFU in Montenegrin, the pricing schedule in euros, the EU Declaration of Conformity, and any bank guarantees the tender requires (typically a bid guarantee of 1–3% of bid value, sometimes a performance guarantee on award).
For higher-value tenders, the contracting authority may request additional evidence: clinical-evaluation summaries, references from other public health systems, and a service plan. Inter Pharm maintains a pre-packaged tender bundle for each distributed brand that covers the recurring items, reducing turnaround on bid submissions to a few business days.
What about appeals?
Bidders can appeal a contracting authority’s decision to the Commission for the Control of Public Procurement Procedures within the standstill window. Appeals are evaluated against the published tender criteria. In practice, technical-compliance disputes are the most common appeal grounds — which makes the precision of the bid dossier the single biggest determinant of award outcomes.
What does Inter Pharm handle as the bidding distributor?
Tender monitoring across UJN, KCCG, Montefarm, and the regional hospitals; technical-specification interpretation and product mapping; bid-pack assembly (manufacturer authorisation, CInMED registration, ISO certificates, IFU translations, pricing); bank guarantee arrangement; bid submission via the UJN portal; appeal drafting where needed; and post-award contract management and delivery.
For broader market context see The Montenegrin medical-device market in 2026 and for the buyer-by-buyer view at the national reference hospital see KCCG procurement map.
Frequently asked questions
- Who runs public tenders for medical devices in Montenegro?
- The Department of Public Procurement (Uprava za javne nabavke, UJN) administers the national framework. Individual tenders are issued by the contracting authority — typically KCCG, Montefarm, the Ministry of Health, or a regional general hospital — and posted on the UJN portal at ujn.gov.me.
- Can a foreign manufacturer bid directly?
- No. Bids must be submitted by a Montenegrin entity — usually a CInMED-licensed local distributor. The distributor supplies the manufacturer authorisation letter, the CInMED registration, and the ISO certificates as part of the tender pack.
- What documents are typically required in a tender pack?
- Manufacturer authorisation letter, CInMED device registration, ISO 9001 + ISO 14001 certificates, technical specification matching the tender requirements, sample of product labelling and IFU in Montenegrin, pricing schedule in euros, declaration of conformity, and bank guarantees per the tender terms.
- On what basis are tenders awarded?
- Most medical-device tenders are awarded on lowest qualifying price. The qualifying threshold is set by the technical specification — bids that fail technical compliance are excluded before price comparison. Some specialised equipment tenders use a most-economically-advantageous-tender (MEAT) framework that weights price against technical and service criteria.
- How long does the process take from posting to award?
- Typical end-to-end timeline is 6–12 weeks: tender posted, questions period (1–2 weeks), bids submitted (3–4 weeks after posting), technical evaluation (2–3 weeks), price evaluation and award (1–2 weeks), standstill and contract signing (1–2 weeks).