Press releases
President Serzh Sargsyan invited a meeting at the Government of the Republic of Armenia
Today, President Serzh Sargsyan invited a meeting at the Government of the Republic of Armenia which was attended by the leaders of the executive bodies headed by the Prime Minister, with the participation of the Chiefs of the Presidential and Government Staffs, RA Prosecutor General, Mayor of Yerevan, Heads of the standing agencies and the President of the RA National Academy of Sciences.
After the introductory remarks of the President, the Head of the RA Presidential Oversight Service Hovhannes Hovsepian presented the main results and conclusions of the investigation conducted by the Service in the area of government procurement. At the report presented were in detail structural and administrative problems revealed in the decentralized process of procurement after the adoption of the RA Law on Procurement. According to the RA Presidential Oversight Service, participants to the system of procurement allow some occurrences which deviate from the requirements and principles of the legislation on procurement. The authorized structures do not fully carry out their responsibilities while the clients beside the inadequate execution of their responsibilities, using loopholes in the sub-legislation in some cases act in a deliberate manner, failing to ensure a competitive, efficient and transparent procurement processes.
On this issue, the President expressed his overt discontent with the works of all those responsible, underscoring that the mentioned occurrences were the results of the shortcomings in the works the responsible officials, who failed to introduce in time efficient regulations as well as of the unscrupulousness of the customer agencies in the procurement process. Serzh Sargsyan reminded that the procurement procedures have been decentralized by the law so that every given minister or head of the agency assumes responsibility and so that the state can purchase efficient, i.e. low cost and high quality goods and services, and not vice verse.
At the conclusion of the meeting, President Serzh Sargsyan directed the participants of the meeting – each in his own Ministry or agency, to invite meetings and explain explicitly to the staff that in case of such failings the whole business will not finish with a reprimand or discharge. “And I expect initiatives first of all from you,” President Sargsyan stressed, addressing those present at the meeting.
The President of Armenia noted that in many areas – urban development, transport and communications, defense, health care and especially control over the medication market, etc., there are problems related to the procurement and efficient administration of the state budget. He gave strict instructions to the RA National Security Service and Office of the Prosecutor General to seriously look into these issues. “I want you to become not formal but our true allies in this issue and display genuine interest in the resolution of the highlighted problems,” President Serzh Sargsyan told the participants of the meeting.
Prime Minister Tigran Sarkissian assured the President that all issues raised at the meeting will be discussed meticulously by the Government, and the timetable of the steps aimed at the resolution of the mentioned problems will be presented to the President of Armenia. “All assessments given by You, Mr. President, are sobering and compel us all to introduce essential changes in our work, and we will without doubt accomplish all that,” Prime Minister Tigran Sarkissian said.