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Medium risk #08 Year-end

Year-end spending

Authorities that spend far more in the last three weeks of December than the rest of the country.

Every authority buys in December, and the share of those three weeks varies from year to year: 9.5% of the money in 2022, 4.1% in 2023. So the indicator compares each authority with the national average for the same year: it is flagged when it puts at least three times as much into the window. The table is ordered by the amount spent above normal.

Flagged cases

3,152

Spending above normal

1.06 Bn.

Average vs. national

5.1×

Flagged authorities by year

Years marked * are not fully covered by the data: 2018.

The data does not cover the whole window in 2023, so that year figures are a floor. For 2018, the first year of the dataset, the annual total is grossed up to a full year.

What the flagged windows were spent on

The 12 largest CPV groups by value; the other 271 are added into a single tile. The amount is what was spent in the flagged windows, not the amount above normal, which cannot be split by code.

National share of the 10-31 December window, by year

How it is computed

Computed on every direct purchase from 2018 to today.

  1. Direct purchases are taken by finalisation date.
  2. They are grouped by authority and year. A year counts only if the data covers all of its December, so the current year is left out.
  3. The first year in the data starts in April, so its total is estimated for a full year from the nearby complete years. The correction makes the total larger, so it can only remove a case, never create one.
  4. Spending from 10–31 December is divided by the yearly total: that is the authority's share.
  5. The same share is computed for the whole country in the same year. It varies a lot (9.5% in 2022, 4.1% in 2023), which is why no fixed threshold is used.
  6. The authority's share is divided by the national one. The amount above normal is the window spending minus what the authority would have spent at the national share.
  7. Authority-years at least 3 times the national share are flagged, with at least 5 purchases in the window and at least 100,000 RON above normal, among those that spent over 200,000 RON in the year.

Thresholds

  • Window: 10–31 December, by the direct purchase's finalisation date
  • Minimum multiple of the national share: 3×
  • Minimum spending above normal: 100,000 RON
  • Minimum number of purchases in the window: 5
  • Minimum yearly direct-purchase budget: 200,000 RON

Direct purchases only. Tenders are left out: they are prepared months ahead, so a December signature is not a last-minute decision. Actual payments are not in the data.

Year-end spending has a legitimate side: the budget closes on 31 December and unspent money is lost. The indicator does not say a purchase is unlawful, only that its timing departs from the national pattern. A year in which everyone spent late produces no flags.

The full explanation, on the methodology page

Contracting authority Year Total spend in the year Spend 10-31 December Purchases in the window December share Vs. national Above normal
COMUNA BIRDA CUI: 16414777 2022 1,976,487 654,171 17 33.1% 3.5× 466,305
DIRECTIA GENERALA DE ASISTENTA SOCIALA SI PROTECTIA COPILULUI GALATI CUI: 17094425 2018 1,660,363 596,336 27 35.9% 4.6× 465,732
ORAS BAIA DE ARAMA CUI: 4675450 2020 821,429 534,670 7 65.1% 7.7× 464,770
COMUNA DOBROTESTI CUI: 16423570 2019 778,963 523,808 7 67.2% 8.9× 464,638
DIRECTIA GENERALA DE POLITIE LOCALA SI CONTROL A MUNICIPIULUI BUCURESTI CUI: 28412052 2022 1,401,380 596,899 33 42.6% 4.5× 463,697
DIRECTIA DE ASISTENTA SOCIALA CUI: 15305089 2025 1,932,568 582,212 35 30.1% 4.9× 462,894
COMUNA BALTA CUI: 7536902 2024 2,650,124 605,026 5 22.8% 4.3× 462,678
COMUNA ZIDURI CUI: 2407915 2021 2,295,598 675,186 43 29.4% 3.2× 462,510
COLEGIUL NATIONAL ION MINULESCU CUI: 4491180 2025 997,975 524,073 37 52.5% 8.5× 462,458
COMUNA COPACELE CUI: 3227726 2021 1,007,538 554,077 6 55.0% 5.9× 460,734
COMUNA LIPANESTI CUI: 2845060 2019 1,400,693 566,922 41 40.5% 5.3× 460,525
COMUNA BERCHISESTI CUI: 17527456 2023 2,658,275 570,132 9 21.5% 5.2× 460,229
COMUNA SUNCUIUS CUI: 4784199 2023 2,966,037 582,742 8 19.7% 4.8× 460,115
COMUNA MICA CUI: 4485456 2025 1,687,523 564,017 8 33.4% 5.4× 459,829
COMUNA TUTORA CUI: 4540224 2020 1,208,921 562,430 6 46.5% 5.5× 459,556
COMUNA URZICUTA CUI: 5046726 2021 1,256,079 575,595 7 45.8% 5.0× 459,225
COMUNA CORNESTI CUI: 4426182 2024 4,153,174 681,349 13 16.4% 3.1× 458,266
COMUNA COBADIN CUI: 4515476 2018 2,562,146 659,775 39 25.8% 3.3× 458,237
COMUNA LUETA CUI: 4368014 2019 1,279,799 555,323 24 43.4% 5.7× 458,109
MUZEUL NATIONAL DE ISTORIE NATURALA GRIGORE ANTIPA CUI: 29446657 2019 2,917,184 678,752 75 23.3% 3.1× 457,161
COMUNA NICULITEL CUI: 4508762 2021 2,134,672 654,284 19 30.7% 3.3× 456,517
COMUNA CORLATEL CUI: 8033364 2020 1,339,936 569,222 5 42.5% 5.0× 455,199
CENTRUL DE INOVARE SI PROIECTARE URBANA SECTOR 6 SRL CUI: 47995505 2024 1,646,616 543,590 7 33.0% 6.2× 455,144
LICEUL TEHNOLOGIC TOMA SOCOLESCU MUNICIPIUL PLOIESTI CUI: 2843868 2025 1,409,574 542,017 23 38.5% 6.2× 454,989
ORASUL DRAGANESTI-OLT CUI: 5209912 2025 1,789,245 565,345 6 31.6% 5.1× 454,876

576-600 of 3152 results

Rows per page: 25 50 100
Contracting authority
The authority that spent. One row is one authority in one year.
Year
The year the purchases were finalised.
Total spend in the year
Everything the authority spent through direct purchases that year. For the first year in the data it is estimated for a full year.
Spend 10-31 December
How much of that money was spent between 10 and 31 December.
Purchases in the window
How many direct purchases were finalised in the window. Below five nothing is flagged: it may be a single large purchase.
December share
Window spending as a percentage of the whole year. Read it with the next column, because the national average changes each year.
Vs. national
How many times the authority's share exceeds the national one in the same year. 1× means the same as the country; flagged from 3×.
Above normal
Window spending minus what the authority would have spent at the national share. The table is ordered by this column.
Opens the authority's direct purchases from that window.

The same data, through the API

Every figure on this page comes from the public API, through the endpoints below. The parameters each one takes are in the documentation; each needs an access key.

  • /api/v1/reference/years
  • /api/v1/red-flags/sindromul-decembrie
  • /api/v1/red-flags/overview/years
  • /api/v1/red-flags/sindromul-decembrie/distribution
  • /api/v1/red-flags/sindromul-decembrie/cpv-spend

Open data and API