Minister: Armenian Government intends to submit a new draft law "On Procurement" for consideration of Parliament 

ArmInfo. The Armenian Government intends to submit a new draft law "On Procurement" for consideration of the Parliament, Armenian Finance Minister Vardan Aramyan said in Parliament, when presenting the amendments to the current Law "On Procurement", which has been passed in the first reading.    

The minister noted that the draft law aims to enhance the transparency of public procurement and improve the accountability systems. At present 7 types of public procurement are being applied in Armenia. The new draft law suggests restricting them to four - e-tender, tender, quotation and procurement by 1 entity.  The e-tender will apply to the procurement worth up to 70 mln AMD. The procurement of such kind of goods shall last no longer than 7 days. If the 70 mln AMD threshold is crossed, the period is extended to no fewer than 15 calendar days. The matter concerns petroleum, stationery, etc. Quotation applies to the goods worth 70 mln AMD, which were not included in the list of the commodities purchased via an e-tender (e.g.  computer facilities). Procurement by 1 entity applies to the cases, when only one entity is left following a tender or a specialized entity that has no analogues.

Aramyan noted that the enterprises participating in state tenders in Armenia shall publicize their connections with the officials. If a company wins the tender but it is found out later that the company failed to publicize its connections, it faces the prospect to be blacklisted and banned from state tenders for 2 years.