Before describing directly the order of tenders in the RA, it is necessary to define this event. It is necessary to distinguish such concepts as “tender”, “auction” and “procurement”. The list of sources is expanding over time. At present these legal relations are mainly regulated by:

-The Law of the Republic of Armenia on Procurement, adopted on 16.12.2016 and normative legal acts amending it;

-The RA Government Decision N 386-N of April 6, 2017 “On approving the procedure for procurement in electronic form and invalidating the RA Government Decision N 1370-N of December 5, 2013”.

The procurement procedures include:

electronic auction;

tender;

request for quotation;

purchase from one person.

Types of tenders are open and closed tenders. A closed tender is either targeted or periodic.

The tender procedure includes the following stages.

At the stage of attracting bids the tender is announced – the customer publishes information about the opening of the tender and sends the relevant notices. Then participants appear, whose aim is to conclude a contract with the customer. They should pay for the documentation they receive from the customer to participate in the tender and submit their bids. The bid must contain a statement of compliance with the requirements of the invitation, a price proposal, bid security, a non-price proposal (technical proposal), if provided for in the invitation. Among other things, bidders shall collect a package of documents in compliance with the tender requirements – information about the bidder, certificate of its financial condition, documents confirming its work in the market, certificates from the relevant state authorities about the absence of tax debts, property arrest, and the absence of bankruptcy status.

The organizer of the competition collects envelopes from the bidders. A working group for envelopes opening will be formed. The evaluation group analyzes the applicants for compliance to the contest criteria and assigns points to the participants. A preliminary winner is selected.

Then the competition is announced and the winner is determined. Based on the results of this procedure, the evaluation committee makes a decision. The customer concludes a contract with the winner of the tender.

The procurement procedure can also be declared failed. This occurs in cases where:

all bids do not meet the requirements of the invitation;

the need for procurement is terminated;

no bids were submitted;

it was not possible to conclude a contract.

In addition to the rules and requirements for the procurement procedures established by the legislation of the Republic of Armenia, each organization has the right to fix its more detailed regulation in its Regulations. Some companies publish procurement information on their websites. For example, Electric Networks of Armenia CJSC publishes the relevant notices on its website. The company’s website also contains the Regulation on the Procedure for Regulated Procurement, procurement plans, and information on their results.

In addition, there are bulletin boards for commercial procurements in the Armenian segment of the Internet. Tenders from local companies can be found on bidding aggregators, such as www.bicotender.ru. Armenia is also trying to expand access to the national procurement system

not only for local, but also for foreign suppliers. For example, it actively removes the language barrier for participants of public procurement from the CIS and EAEC countries. For example, applications in the ARMEPS system are published not only in Armenian, but also in Russian and English, and since 2017 an electronic system of translation of documents into different languages has been introduced.

Since 2011 the electronic system of public procurement has been working in Armenia – https://www.armeps.am. Now almost 95% of all procedures are carried out electronically. Since January 1, 2017, all data on public procurement, including documentation and participants, are published online.

Interaction between customers and suppliers, including the exchange of documents and the conclusion of contracts, takes place within the electronic system. Such a tool as electronic signatures is used to guarantee the reliability of documents.

In general, the transition from paper to electronic form allows customers and suppliers to save their resources. First of all, the process is accelerated by simplified communication. Also, the exchange of documents in electronic form saves a significant amount of money resources. In addition, it allows, albeit slightly, but to reduce deforestation, which contributes to the preservation of ecology. Dispute resolution Previously, disputes arising in the process of procurement were considered by the Procurement

procurement appeals board. However, according to the amendments made to the Law of the Republic of Armenia of December 16, 2016 “On Procurement” in 2018, the terms “procurement appeal board”, “board” and “board member” were replaced with “person considering complaints related to procurement”. The person reviewing procurement-related complaints shall review the complaints with due care and impartiality. The person examining procurement-related complaints is independent of the participants in the procurement process, including customers, as well as state and local authorities and officials, and is obliged to be guided solely by the legislation of the Republic of Armenia. The number of persons examining procurement-related complaints shall be established by a decision of the Government. The person examining procurement-related complaints shall hold office for a period of five years.

The person may be a citizen of the Republic of Armenia with higher education in economics and management (management) or law, at least five years of work experience in public administration or at least seven years of professional work experience and knowledge of the Armenian language. The maximum term of office of a person dealing with procurement-related complaints is 65 years.