Law "On Public Procurement" signed

Baku/21.08.23/Turan: President Ilham Aliyev signed a new Law "On Public Procurement" on August 19, which will enter into force from January 2024.

The Law applies to state bodies, extra-budgetary state funds, legal entities of public law created on behalf of the state, legal entities whose shares are controlled by the state and other state-owned enterprises and organizations. The "Azerbaijani Investment Holding" has been instructed to approve rules for purchase of goods, works and services at the expense of other financial resources by the supervisory boards of state-owned companies under its management.

The new law, which will replace a legislative act of the same name in force since 2002, excludes the method of requesting proposals, and quotation surveys will be conducted on purchases with an estimated cost below AZN 100,000 instead of the current AZN 50,000.

Note that purchases above AZN 100,000 are subject to organization by open or two-stage tender. Regardless of the estimated price, the following procurement methods may be used only with the consent of the supervisory authority, including the closed tender method, the single-source procurement method and the methods of open tender or request for quotations, the results of which are a framework agreement.

Depending on the estimated price, the quotation request method is carried out among the following suppliers, and only their offers are evaluated:

- with an estimated price of up to AZN 30,000 - suppliers who are subjects of micro and small businesses;

- with an estimated price from AZN 30,000 to 100,000 - suppliers who are micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

Starting from the new year, procuring entities will be granted the right to conclude a simple purchase and sale agreement - a document concluded between the procuring entity and the supplier selected at the second stage of the procurement by applying a framework agreement and defining the obligations of the parties due to the acquisition of the procurement item.

Worthy of note is that the new Law "On Public Procurement" does not oblige procuring entities to disclose the text of procurement contracts and the names of procurement participants. -08B-