ArmInfo. The Armenian government prioritizes competitive procedures for the implementation of various programs. The National Assembly of the Republic of Armenia is debating amendments to the Law on Procurement and the Civil Procedure Code in the first reading at its January 20 session.
According to Deputy Finance Minister Avag Avanesyan, there are often cases where the state holds tenders for the procurement of services and works, which are then appealed in the courts. As a result, state programs, including those in the infrastructure or services sector, remain unimplemented or only partially implemented.
The need to adopt these draft laws stems from both the need to regulate potential problems arising from the suspension of procurement processes organized to ensure public, defense, and national security interests, and the need to prevent the suspension of procurement processes after the adoption of final judicial decisions by the court of first instance. Avanesyan emphasized that an analysis of current regulations shows that, in practice, there are cases where procurement processes organized to ensure defense and national security interests are suspended, resulting in customers being unable to resolve their issues within the established timeframes.
The proposed regulations aim to eliminate the possibility of suspending procurement procedures for public purposes, defense, and national security. This condition must be set forth in the invitation to purchase, subject to the prior consent of the government. The possibility of extending procurement deadlines based on a first-instance court decision will also be eliminated. If the invitation to purchase contains information indicating that it is being organized for the purpose of ensuring the public interest or the interests of defense and national security, then appeals against the actions or inactions, or decisions of the contracting authority and the evaluation committee will not be suspended. Furthermore, such information may be included in the invitation with the prior consent of the government. The execution of final court decisions in disputes related to appeals against the actions of the contracting authority and the evaluation committee cannot be suspended based on the acceptance of appeals and cassation appeals filed against these decisions.
A cassation appeal may be filed against decisions of the Court of Appeal following the review of appeals filed against decisions made in procurement-related disputes. Exceptions will be made for decisions to terminate proceedings on a case by way of a settlement agreement, as well as decisions to terminate appellate proceedings based on the denial of an appeal, within 15 days from the date of publication of these acts.
