References: Law of Georgia on State Procurements, Article 8:

Conditions and rules to prevent conflict of interests:

1. Conditions and rules to prevent conflict of interests are applied to the following activities related with implementation of procurements:

a. preparatory works for procurement, including establishment of characteristics and presumable cost of procurement object;

b. selection of tender commission members and other persons responsible for implementation of procurement;

c. preparation of tender announcement, tender documentation and other material;

d. consideration and evaluation of qualification data and tender proposals;

e. conduct of negotiations in cases provided for by the present law;

f. control and supervision on implementation of agreements;

g. other activities related with procurement implementation.

2. It is prohibited for a person who is willing to participate or/and is participating in the procurement to address procuring organization (its chairman and employees) or the structures of state management and their representatives with a request for mediation, or to impose direct or indirect (hidden) influence over them in any form, to gain to conclude a contract favorable for him.

3. It is prohibited for a procuring organization to entrust the preparation of a procurement or/and its supervision to a person or invite a person as a consultant (expert), if he/she:

a. is a close relative of a chief, employee or direct participant of any juridical person participating in the procurement;

b. for the last 3 years has been working in the organization that is participating in the procurement;

c. is linked with personal or business interests or carries out negotiations for establishing such links with juridical or persons participating to the procurement;

4. It is prohibited that juridical or physical persons, who have participated in procurement preparation to participate in the procurement;

5. The requirements of paragraphs 3 and 4 of the present article also apply to:

a) participants in the control over procurement implementation;

b) participants of negotiations on implementation of procurements by means of negotiations with a single person.

6. Upon completion of the terms of accepting documents ascertaining the qualification data and tender proposals, and as soon as envelopes are opened, all members of the tender commission, the invited consultant (expert) and all those employees of procuring organizations who are involved in the implementation of this procurement are obliged to confirm in writing that his/her participation in this procurement does not contradict the above-mentioned requirements.

References: Law of Georgia on State Procurements, Article 4:

Agency of the State Procurement:

1. Activities related to procurement are coordinated and monitored by a permanent independent body and legal person of public law, the Agency of State Procurement (hereinafter the Agency); the Agency's chairman is appointed and removed from the position by the Prime Minister of Georgia. 6. Main functions of the agency are:

c) Preparation of special educational programs, educational-methodological material, standard forms of documentation, conducting of seminars and trainings for central and local self-governing institutions, mass media representatives and other interested members of the public.

References: No information is available on enforcement of the regulations.

References: There is no mechanism that monitors the assets, incomes and spending habits of public procurement officials.

References: Law of Georgia on State Procurements, Article 10:

Means of procurement:

1. Procurement is implemented by means of a tender if not otherwise stipulated by this article.

2. The quotation of prices may be used under the decision of the chief of procuring organization for the procurement of goods and services, presumable cost of which amounts to less than 100,000 GEL (US$59,623), as well as for the procurement of works, presumable cost of which is less than 200,000 GEL (US$119,246).

3. The procurement may be implemented by means of negotiation with a single person if:

a) the presumable cost of goods or services to be procured does not exceed 50,000 GEL (US$29,812), whereas presumable cost of works does not exceed 100,000 GEL (US$59,623).

b) provision of goods, implementation of works or rendering a service is the exclusive right of only one person;

c) there exists an urgent necessity, and at that, in such cases, the amount of goods, works or services to be procured shall not exceed terms needed for settlement of problems caused by the urgent necessities;

d) to avoid worsening of procured object's quality or/and to ensure its further exploitation, it is necessary to implement procurement with the same provider, except in cases when the presumable cost of this procurement exceeds the cost of initial procurement;

e) for the unimpeded organization of events of state and public importance within limited terms, the implementation of procurement was decided under the legal act of the president of Georgia or /and the government of Georgia;

f) one or more procured vehicle or computer appliances is being replaced with a new one or more vehicle or computer appliances with the same or upgraded parameters; in this case, part of costs of new vehicles and computer appliances is compensated for by returning the previously procured vehicles and computer appliances to the provider or by means of handing these over to another juridical person, which is involved in the retail of similar products (goods);

4. procedures of negotiation with a single person and price quotations are implemented by the chief of the procuring organization or a person (persons) duly authorized by him/her in the order established by the legislation of Georgia. 5. It is prohibited to artificially divide the means of procurement with the purpose of avoiding monetary limits, determined by this article. After conclusion of the procurement contract, procurement by remaining financial resources is allowed with respect of monetary limits as determined by this article. During the procurement of works, a case in which the presumable cost of each similar procurement object exceeds 200,000 GEL (US$119,246) and procurement of this object is implemented through a tender will not be considered as artificial dividing.

References: Law of Georgia on State Procurements, Article 10:

Means of procurement:

1. Procurement is implemented by means of a tender if not otherwise stipulated by this article.

2. The quotation of prices may be used under the decision of the chief of procuring organization for the procurement of goods and services, presumable cost of which amounts to less than 100,000 GEL (US$59,623), as well as for the procurement of works, presumable cost of which is less than 200,000 GEL (US$119,246).

3. The procurement may be implemented by means of negotiation with a single person if:

a) the presumable cost of goods or services to be procured does not exceed 50,000 GEL (US$29,812), whereas presumable cost of works does not exceed 100,000 GEL (US$59,623).

b) provision of goods, implementation of works or rendering a service is the exclusive right of only one person;

c) there exists an urgent necessity, and at that, in such cases, the amount of goods, works or services to be procured shall not exceed terms needed for settlement of problems caused by the urgent necessities;

d) to avoid worsening of procured object's quality or/and to ensure its further exploitation, it is necessary to implement procurement with the same provider, except in cases when the presumable cost of this procurement exceeds the cost of initial procurement;

e) for the unimpeded organization of events of state and public importance within limited terms, the implementation of procurement was decided under the legal act of the president of Georgia or /and the government of Georgia;

f) one or more procured vehicle or computer appliances is being replaced with a new one or more vehicle or computer appliances with the same or upgraded parameters; in this case, part of costs of new vehicles and computer appliances is compensated for by returning the previously procured vehicles and computer appliances to the provider or by means of handing these over to another juridical person, which is involved in the retail of similar products (goods);

4. procedures of negotiation with a single person and price quotations are implemented by the chief of the procuring organization or a person (persons) duly authorized by him/her in the order established by the legislation of Georgia. 5. It is prohibited to artificially divide the means of procurement with the purpose of avoiding monetary limits, determined by this article. After conclusion of the procurement contract, procurement by remaining financial resources is allowed with respect of monetary limits as determined by this article. During the procurement of works, a case in which the presumable cost of each similar procurement object exceeds 200,000 GEL (US$119,246) and procurement of this object is implemented through a tender will not be considered as artificial dividing.

References: Law of Georgia on State Procurements, Article 23:

Procedure of appeal and dispute consideration:

1. Prior to conclusion of the contract, legal and physical persons willing to participate in the tender and contenders shall be authorized to appeal the actions of the procuring organization or the tender commission before the procuring organization or the agency, if they deem that rules established under the present law and relevant normative acts have been violated or/and their rights have been infringed in the process of procurement.

2. Legal and physical persons willing to participate in the tender, contenders and providers shall be authorized to appeal the actions of the procuring organization or the tender commission before the court, if they deem that rules established under the present law and relevant normative acts have been violated or/and their rights have been infringed in the process of procurement.

3. In cases determined under the first paragraph of the present article, a claimant shall be authorized to appeal to the procuring organization no later than within 20 calendar days from the moment of learning about a circumstance or adoption of a decision, which gave rise to the claim.

4. Prior to conclusion of the contract, legal and physical persons willing to participate in a tender and contenders shall be authorized to address the agency for considering the dispute related to procurement.

5. In cases under paragraphs 1 and 3 of the present article, the procurement organization shall take a justified decision in writing no later than within 10 calendar days from the receipt of the claim and communicate it to the claimant.

6. In cases under paragraphs 4 of the present article, the agency shall take an argumented decision in writing no later than within 20 calendar days from the receipt of the claim and communicate it to the claimant and the procurement organization.

7. If as result of detailed consideration of claim and related circumstances by the agency, the claim proves to be grounded, the agency is entitled to:

a. point out the improper actions of the procuring organization and request the implementation of procurement procedures in compliance with the legislation;

b. request the procuring organization to review or revoke adopted decision;

c. in case of violation of requirements of the present law, raise the question of responsibility of procurement participants before the relevant agencies under the legislation of Georgia;

8. Upon the expiration of term under paragraph 3 of the present article, as well as following conclusion of the contract, consideration of any claim is permitted solely in front of a court.

9. Action shall not be liable to appeal, if the if the claim relates to:

a. the choice of means of procurement respecting the order established under the present law and relevant normative acts;

b. the decision of the procuring organization on suspension or discontinuation of the procurement procedure, which had been adopted in the order established under this law and relevant normative acts;

10. The claim shall be legally grounded and be annexed with the motivated explanation of the claimant that he/she will suffer significant loss if the claim is not satisfied. The claim shall not be subject to consideration if the procuring organization in accordance with this law decides to discontinue the procurement procedure.

11. In case a complaint is submitted to the procuring organization or the Agency prior to conclusion of a state procurement contract, the procuring organization is obliged to suspend procurement for the duration of the term of the claim consideration procedure. The term of suspension of procurement may be extended by the decision of the chief of procurement organization or the agency, while its total duration shall not exceed 30 days. 12. Legal and physical persons willing to participate in the tender, contenders and providers are entitled to appeal to court against the decisions of the procurement organization or the agency adopted in relation to the claim.

13. Damage that can be compensated to the claimant as a result of consideration under the present article shall be limited to the expenses related to participation in the procurement only and shall not envisage compensation-presumed profit.

References: Law of Georgia on State Procurements, Article 23:

Procedure of appeal and dispute consideration:

12. Legal and physical persons willing to participate in the tender, contenders and providers are entitled to appeal to court against the decisions of procurement organization or the agency adopted in relation to the claim.

13. Damage that can be compensated to the claimant as a result of consideration under the present article shall be limited to the expenses related to participation in the procurement only and shall not envisage compensation-presumed profit.

References: Law of Georgia on State Procurements, Article 3: l) A register will be kept of unreliable persons, contenders and providers participating in the procurement register, which is filled in by state procurement agency, that will reflect data on those unreliable persons, contenders and providers participating in procurement who have been deprived of the right to participate in the procurement of same goods, work or services for the period of two years following their inclusion in the register. The register is accessible to any procuring organization.

Article 4: Agency of the State Procurement: 6. Main functions of the agency are:

k) Maintaining a register of unreliable persons, contenders and providers participating in the procurements.

References: [ LINK ]

References: Law of Georgia on State Procurements, Article 6:

2. The Board of the agency:

a) Discusses, during its sessions, draft normative acts to be published by the chairman of the agency, regulations of structural sub-divisions of the agency and results of their activities;

b) in relation with state procurements, takes into consideration main directions of the state policy and, during its sessions, gives opportunities to all sides participating in state procurements to represent their interests unhindered;

c) files in an annual report on its activities and presents it to the government of Georgia before April 1 of each consecutive year; the report shall be accessible to the public;

d) within the scope of its competence, requests from procuring organizations any information related to procurements and checks its accuracy;

3. Sessions of the board of the agency are public and its decisions are published in accordance with established order. The order of confidentiality of information within the board is established by the Legislation of Georgia.

4. The order of activity of the Board of the Agency is determined by the regulations of the board.

References: Law of Georgia on State Procurements, Article 22:

Procurement Report

1. The procurement process shall be reflected in the procurement report, the procedure for drawing up, presentation and filing of which shall be determined by the bylaw normative act.

2. In case of holding tender, the protocols of the tender commission's meetings, the conclusions of experts and consultants participating in the tender, as well as other documents envisaged by the bylaw normative act under the first paragraph of the present article, shall be enclosed in the procurement report.

3. The procurement report shall be submitted to the agency in following time frames:]

a. When the procurement is carried out by means of tender, no later than 10 calendar days following the conclusion of the contract;

b. When the procurement is carried out by means of negotiations with a single individual and the price of goods or services does not exceed 100,000 GEL (US$59,623), and the price of the procured works with a price less than 200,000 GEL (US$119,246), no later than 10 calendar days following the conclusion of the contract;

c. When procuring goods or services with the price less than 100,000 GEL (US$59,623) or works with the price less than 200,000 GEL (US$119,246) (in case such a situation occurs): quarterly, no later than the 30th day of the first month of the following quarter;

d. Progress report on execution of the contract: quarterly, no later than 30th day of the first month of the following quarter;

4. The procurement reports shall be available for every concerned individual upon their request, whereas a short overview of those reports shall regularly be published by procuring organizations in the media;

5. The chief of the procuring organization shall submit the procurement report regarding an object with a price exceeding 2,000,000 GEL (US$1,192,464) to the government of Georgia in a written form, within 20 days following conclusion of the state procurement contract.

6. The Ministry of Finance of Georgia, the Ministries responsible for the financial sphere of the Autonomous Republics of Abkhazia and Adjara and the financial units of local self-governance entities shall, on a quarterly basis, provide the Agency with the information on resources factually allocated to the budgetary organizations and institutions.

7. The Agency is entitled to request from the procuring organization or the participants of procurement any document and information related to the procurement, including the information related to execution of the contract.

8. With a view of ensuring transparency of procurement process, the agency shall, in the procurement process, monitor the compliance with such principles as publicity, justice, non-discrimination, full adherence to the established procedures and reporting, thereby guaranteeing open and effective competition, and the possibility of making rational and free choices.

References: www.spa.ge

Ti Report, Anti corruption Policy, [ LINK ]

References: No information is available on this problem.

References: www.economy.ge

www.spa.ge

Peer Review Comments: Advertisements for major public procurements go only through a website. Again, as in the case of privatization, there is a problem with access to the Internet.

Bids go practically unannounced in regions, and the information is spread more from "inner circles" than by publicly known transparent means.

Peer Review Comments: The advertisements for major public procurements are also published in such national newspapers as Rezonansi and 24 Saati.

References: [ LINK ]

Peer Review Comments: Publishing of the results of of major public procurement bids is often delayed.