Transport and Infrastructure Minister Radu Berceanu passed an order banning the acquisition of vehicles, equipment, furniture and office equipment up until the end of the year, ministry sources told Mediafax. The order will apply to both the ministry and reporting companies and, in addition to the aforementioned, also prohibits the procurement of software, devices and ‘the similar’. Under a draft act the Ministry of Finance is working on, the procurement of passenger vehicles, PCs, furniture, motor fuel, as well as of ITR, cleaning, insurance and air transport services by central public institutions will be carried out in a centralised system, through one of its subordinated units. Government institutions and state-owned companies in the first four months of this year bought cars, laptop computers and mobile telephones worth over EUR 100 M and budgeted similar procurements totalling EUR 24 M, with the total sum almost matching the one in the entire 2009.