In 2023, the state-owned company that manages Albanian airspace, Albcontrol, spent 2 million euros to train staff. With this amount, 30 controllers were trained, while a simple calculation shows that 66,666 euros were spent to train 1 employee.
Last year, one company participated, taking almost the entire limit fund. But, a year later, Albcontrol opened another tender, this time with the object of "knowledge refresher training". A madness in itself, since just for knowledge refresher training another amount of 800 thousand euros will be spent, or 26,666 thousand euros will be spent for 1 employee.
Exaggerated values for a country like Albania, while millions of euros are being spent on training alone. This is a new scandal at Albcontrol, following the one denounced a few weeks ago by VoxNews, where an anonymous US firm managed to receive a full 7.2 million euros from this institution for system maintenance.
But, let's take Albcontrol's actions one by one! A few days ago, Administrator Dritan Isaku opened the tender with the object of the procurement procedure "refresher training of knowledge for cases of unusual situations for ATCO ADI/APS/ACS". The limit fund of the procedure is 80 million new lek, or about 800 thousand euros. It is about "specialized training services or even personnel training services".
Albcontrol's "bag" was opened after Beketi received the frozen millions and now the government's income or "aid" has given Isak the green light to make the next tenders. The object of the 2024 tender is "refresher training", but how much was spent on the initial training?!

According to documents available to VoxNews, in 2023 Abcontroli opened a tender with the object of "training for 30 new basic controllers, TËR VIA and AÇ AREA", with a fund of 208 million lek. In this procedure, there was only one bid, that of the Temporary Union of Economic Operators, "ATD Albanian Technology Distribution" and "Consulting & Management Albania", which offered 199 million lek, leaving only 9 million.
There are suspicions that the grants awarded in 2024 are destined to go to the firms that won the 2023 tender, or are a "tip" from the heads of Albcontrol. But if it is a refresher course, why such a high value? The documents state that there are only 30 candidates, with a training duration of no less than 22 weeks. The firm must have several simulators, as well as classrooms. And, with these requirements, a huge sum of 2.8 million euros is being spent in a short time.
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