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TRANSPARENCY ANTI-CORRUPTION CENTER REVEALS SERIOUS PROBLEMS IN ARMENIAN GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENTS
/ARKA/
30 October, 2012
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, October 30. / ARKA /. Transparency International
Anti-Corruption Center has revealed a string of serious problems in
Armenia's procurements administered by various government agencies,
Varuzhan Hoktanyan, the executive director of the Armenian office of
the Center for Regional Development and Transparency International,
said today when presenting the preliminary findings of a study it
conducted late last and this year.
"Together wit the Open Society Foundations - Armenia we studied
government procurements from 2011 November to October 20 this year.
The results showed that this area is not perfect", he said.
An expert of the Anti-Corruption Center, Artak Manukyan, said the
monitoring has revealed the unavailability of information and lack
of transparency on the official website of the Ministry of Finance
at gnumner.am and on the e-gov.am/transparent.
"For example, many sections on both websites were not updated since
2011, including reports on procurements and data about purchases
from one person", he said. Manukyan also named lack of involvement
of public organizations as another flaw in the procurement system.
According to Manukyan, that the procurement system is imperfect is
evidenced by the reduction in the percentage of satisfied complaints
from 73.7% in 2011 to 47.4% in 2012.
Manukyan mentioned also a low level of awareness among economic
entities. He said only 690 companies of 140,000 across the country are
registered on the electronic site of the Center to Support Procurement
(armeps.am), which make only 0.49% of all companies.
"This suggests that the private sector is either not aware of
e-procurement system, or does not give it particular importance ",
he said.
He said the revealed problems in the procurement system do not
stem from imperfect law. According to him, they indicate that some
government agencies "are unable to implement what is provided by law."
During an emergency meeting with top government officials in September
President Serzh Sargsyan berated the government for widespread bribery
and nepotism in state procurements. Sargsyan cited the findings of
an inquiry conducted by the presidential Oversight Service, which
showed that contracts were awarded to private firms in violation of
the law.-0-
From: A. Papazian
/ARKA/
30 October, 2012
YEREVAN
YEREVAN, October 30. / ARKA /. Transparency International
Anti-Corruption Center has revealed a string of serious problems in
Armenia's procurements administered by various government agencies,
Varuzhan Hoktanyan, the executive director of the Armenian office of
the Center for Regional Development and Transparency International,
said today when presenting the preliminary findings of a study it
conducted late last and this year.
"Together wit the Open Society Foundations - Armenia we studied
government procurements from 2011 November to October 20 this year.
The results showed that this area is not perfect", he said.
An expert of the Anti-Corruption Center, Artak Manukyan, said the
monitoring has revealed the unavailability of information and lack
of transparency on the official website of the Ministry of Finance
at gnumner.am and on the e-gov.am/transparent.
"For example, many sections on both websites were not updated since
2011, including reports on procurements and data about purchases
from one person", he said. Manukyan also named lack of involvement
of public organizations as another flaw in the procurement system.
According to Manukyan, that the procurement system is imperfect is
evidenced by the reduction in the percentage of satisfied complaints
from 73.7% in 2011 to 47.4% in 2012.
Manukyan mentioned also a low level of awareness among economic
entities. He said only 690 companies of 140,000 across the country are
registered on the electronic site of the Center to Support Procurement
(armeps.am), which make only 0.49% of all companies.
"This suggests that the private sector is either not aware of
e-procurement system, or does not give it particular importance ",
he said.
He said the revealed problems in the procurement system do not
stem from imperfect law. According to him, they indicate that some
government agencies "are unable to implement what is provided by law."
During an emergency meeting with top government officials in September
President Serzh Sargsyan berated the government for widespread bribery
and nepotism in state procurements. Sargsyan cited the findings of
an inquiry conducted by the presidential Oversight Service, which
showed that contracts were awarded to private firms in violation of
the law.-0-
From: A. Papazian