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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

Year-end spending
Contracting authority Year Total spend in the year Spend 10-31 December Purchases in the window December share Vs. national Above normal Purchases
UNITATEA MILITARA NR01836 CUI: 27036839 2018 5,591,149 The first year in the data starts in April, so its yearly total is estimated for a full year. 1,619,818 51 29.0% 3.7× 1,180,018 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
ACADEMIA DE STUDII ECONOMICE CUI: 4433775 2025 9,331,284 1,753,344 23 18.8% 3.0× 1,177,226 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
COMUNA SACALAZ CUI: 5439113 2021 5,519,060 1,677,660 27 30.4% 3.3× 1,166,346 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
COMUNA GALICEA CUI: 2541118 2021 2,316,028 1,371,313 34 59.2% 6.4× 1,156,744 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
COMUNA CARASOVA CUI: 3227661 2018 4,781,250 The first year in the data starts in April, so its yearly total is estimated for a full year. 1,521,804 11 31.8% 4.1× 1,145,711 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
COMUNA VALENI CUI: 5102265 2021 2,451,897 1,367,670 25 55.8% 6.0× 1,140,514 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
INSTITUTUL NATIONAL DE STATISTICA CUI: 7593088 2024 3,393,395 1,315,828 19 38.8% 7.2× 1,133,556 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
DIRECTIA GENERALA DE ASISTENTA SOCIALA SI PROTECTIA COPILULUI VRANCEA CUI: 17101530 2022 4,860,721 1,586,777 355 32.6% 3.4× 1,124,763 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
COMUNA CIUPERCENI CUI: 4448393 2024 2,475,832 1,249,826 16 50.5% 9.4× 1,116,840 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
COMUNA VRANCIOAIA CUI: 4447266 2024 1,765,826 1,200,670 16 68.0% 12.7× 1,105,821 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
SPITALUL ORASENESC VALENI DE MUNTE CUI: 2844200 2023 7,293,770 1,405,894 85 19.3% 4.7× 1,104,342 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
SPITALUL CLINIC JUDETEAN MURES CUI: 24014380 2024 5,983,270 1,413,217 29 23.6% 4.4× 1,091,833 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
COMUNA BIXAD CUI: 3963986 2019 4,111,287 1,395,027 15 33.9% 4.5× 1,082,731 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
INSTITUTUL DE URGENTA PENTRU BOLI CARDIOVASCULARE SI TRANSPLANT TARGU-MURES CUI: 32051606 2023 12,816,484 1,606,587 174 12.5% 3.0× 1,076,705 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
COMUNA CRISENI CUI: 4291565 2025 4,118,489 1,330,542 13 32.3% 5.2× 1,076,265 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
INSPECTORATUL DE POLITIE AL JUDETULUI ARAD CUI: 3519836 2022 3,417,339 1,397,952 111 40.9% 4.3× 1,073,133 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
COMUNA SELEUS CUI: 3518873 2021 3,306,934 1,379,217 24 41.7% 4.5× 1,072,846 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
SCOALA GIMNAZIALA NR127 CUI: 33327727 2018 1,764,444 The first year in the data starts in April, so its yearly total is estimated for a full year. 1,210,776 7 68.6% 8.7× 1,071,985 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
ORASUL BABADAG CUI: 4508533 2018 4,661,982 The first year in the data starts in April, so its yearly total is estimated for a full year. 1,438,387 33 30.9% 3.9× 1,071,676 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
TEATRUL NATIONAL ILCARAGIALE CUI: 4192626 2023 3,532,955 1,216,322 368 34.4% 8.3× 1,070,256 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
COMUNA 23 AUGUST CUI: 4618153 2019 3,137,847 1,307,289 22 41.7% 5.5× 1,068,936 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
COMPANIA NATIONALA DE CAI FERATE CFR SA BUCURESTI SUCURSALA REGIONALA DE CAI FERATE TIMISOARA CUI: 15662430 2022 5,079,005 1,545,321 6 30.4% 3.2× 1,062,559 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
COMUNA BERCENI CUI: 2845338 2021 5,537,497 1,574,018 21 28.4% 3.1× 1,060,996 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
OPERA NATIONALA ROMANA IASI CUI: 4541610 2019 1,515,553 1,175,464 129 77.6% 10.2× 1,060,342 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December
UM 02512 C BUCURESTI CUI: 4193044 2021 3,793,779 1,407,623 121 37.1% 4.0× 1,056,148 See the direct purchases from 10–31 December

76-100 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.
Purchases
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