Հայ
Рус- 21 March, 2024
- Announcements
The ceremony of launch of sub-grants for the media and regional non-governmental organizations by the Union of Informed Citizens was held today, March 21.
In January 24, within the framework of the Promoting Accountability and Public Oversight of Public Procurement program, the Union of Informed Citizens NGO had announced a call for proposals to be submitted by media and regional NGOs, aimed at increasing the accountability and public oversight of public procurement.
The goal of the project is to enhance public oversight over the public procurement system in the Republic of Armenia and promote the transparency and accountability of public procurement. The project is implemented by the Union of Informed Citizens NGO in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Armenia and is funded by the UK Government’s Good Governance Fund.
Three organizations were selected, namely, the Drug Utilization Research Group NGO, Information Committee NGO (“Infocom”) and Just Democracy NGO.
Daniel Ioannisyan, Programs Coordinator at Union of Informed Citizens NGO, welcomed the participation of regional non-governmental organizations in the project and expressed hope that in the future, civil society organizations of not only Lori and Shirak, but also other provinces will come up with such initiatives in various fields of public procurement.
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Kingdom to the Republic of Armenia H.E. John Gallagher addressed the selected organizations with welcoming remarks. “As important actors contributing to transparency, accountability and integrity of public authorities, civil society organizations have a key role in reviewing public procurement schemes to assess compliance of public procurement processes. This aims to ensure accountability for adherence to the existing legal framework, encourage best practice, identify shortcomings and gaps throughout the procurement chain and produce recommendations for further improvement,” the ambassador noted.
RA Deputy Minister of Finance Avag Avanesyan referred to the facilitation of the public procurement acceptance process, emphasizing the importance of control and analysis of the public procurement system by the civil society in order to enhance its efficiency.
At the event, public finance expert Artak Kyrumyan, the author of the inception report “Study of the RA Public Procurement System” published within the framework of the Promoting Public Oversight and Accountability of Public Procurement program, presented the key points of the research study and highlighted the shortcomings of the public procurement system.
The Drug Utilization Research Group NGO will carry out the “Review and Analysis of Decentralized Public Procurement of Drugs in RA Provinces” project, collecting and analyzing evidence on the example of Shirak Marz, which will help to optimize the decentralized public procurement of drugs as a tool to enhance the accessibility and affordability of drugs.
“Infocom” will implement the project, “Yerevan City Procurement Practices: Investigating Corruption Risks and Measuring Conformity of Supplied Goods/Services with the Contract”, within the framework of which they will study the procurements of Yerevan city in the following two directions: study of potential corruption risks and measurement of the effective control of the procurements (whether the procured good or service was delivered within the specified period, in the specified volume and quality).
The Direct Democracy NGO will implement the “Public Oversight as a Safeguard of Quality” program aimed at promoting compliance with the Terms of Reference under the subsidy programs for the 2022-2023 development of Vanadzor, Spitak and Alaverdi enlarged communities in Lori province.
