61 agreements were signed through tenders with the non-resident companies in 2018, the total contract value exceeding 122 million GEL.
Diplomatic corps accredited in Georgia raise concerns about criteria and transparency problems related state tenders. As the Austrian Ambassador Arad Benko mentioned in his interview with BMG:
“We often face a lack of transparency regarding tender winners. The part of these issues were solved in the frame of EU TWINNING program and hope it will bring positive results for future” said the ambassador.
The Italian ambassador to Georgia Antonio Enrico Bartoli also talks about flaws in the tender criteria:
“With respect to procurement, it is not only transparency problems, but also the problems related with selection criteria. Such as, the dynamics of expenditures, and that the lowest price is not most important thing. As an example, when you build a highway or bridge, you can split the money in two directions. To spend less on the construction phase, but spend more for maintenance and renovating of construction, and the second way –when you decide to build sustainable infrastructure that will last longer “- Ambassador said in an interview and added that it is not only the current government’s challenge.
“As an example, 100 km length road could be built for 100 dollars, when you can only get 80 km road for this price. But they can`t understand that 80 km proper road will be more durable and efficient in the long run. In cases like this, celebrations with fireworks and appellations that for road construction taxpayer’s money is spent, is wrong, and one shall not forget that sooner or later the money has to be reinvested again and again to those who carried out this project.
We know that in most cases for infrastructural projects, foreign, experienced companies are contracted by the state. They are contracted due to their experience in building highways and bridges. However, local constructors also need exposure and experience in order to carry out high quality infrastructure projects independently. If the tendering and the purchase method remains the same, it means that the same companies will undergo the selection process again and again. On the one hand, there should be opportunities for local companies, which will become their driving force in the future”- Says the Ambassador.
As for the official data, the total value of state procurement amounted to 4,087,214,400 GEL during 2018.
From which:
Through e-tenders – 3,308,643,197 GEL
Through simplified procurement procedures – 778,571,203 GEL.
It turns out that 81% of the purchases comes from simplified agreements.
The Number of non-resident suppliers registered in the system is distributed as follows:
Ukraine – 302
Turkey – 210
Russia – 163
Azerbaijan – 111
China – 89
Germany – 86
Italy – 76
Great Britain – 52
Armenia – 45
US – 35
