SOCAR hides results of competitive purchases from public

Baku/11.10.23/Turan: The results of monitoring of the updated in early 2023 "Procurement" section of SOCAR's web portal https://socar.az/az/page/satinalmalar conducted by Turan News Agency found that both the head office of the largest state holding company, as well as its structural subdivisions and subsidiaries avoid fulfilment of requirements on transparency of procurement at all its stages.

Note that SOCAR's procurements are still carried out in paper format, while state structures financed from the state budget switched to electronic procurement of goods (works and services) from March 2019. 

At that, SOCAR's parent company, as well as none of its dozens of subdivisions have posted procurement plans for 2023 on the oil company's website.

This year, SOCAR structures have conducted hundreds of procurement procedures for purchase of goods, works and services. However, only two structural units officially reported on the results of 11 of them: "Neftqazelmitədqiqatlayihə" Institute and "Complex Drilling Works" trust.

Azerbaijani branch of "Tog Petrol Sanayı ve ticaret" LTD (Turkey), "Çinar-Servis IKF" LLC, "Evim Teksil" LLC, "Doctor of Laboratories" LLC, "HQ LAB" and "Optimum Metrology Services" LLC won in five procurement procedures of NIPI "Neftegaz" SOCAR https://www.socar.az/az/page/neftqazelmitedqiqatlayihe-institutu. Total amount of procurement contracts was about AZN 300.000. The trust "Complex Drilling Works" https://socar.az/az/page/kompleks-qazma-isleri-tresti also decided on the results of five procurement procedures, for all of them it was decided not to continue the competitive procurement.

The state controlling body does not comment on the situation around SOCAR's procurement.

In turn, SOCAR notes that its regulatory documents on organisation and management of procurement (concept, policy, standards, instructions, etc.), internal standards were prepared with the involvement of consulting companies with due regard for the standards applied by global oil and gas companies in the field of procurement, as well as the experience of the World Bank in the field of procurement regulation.

"These documents cover all stages of procurement activities and reflect the responsible roles and responsibilities for each process, documentation procedures. "PricewaterhouseCoopers", and the "KPMG" office in Azerbaijan have analysed SOCAR's procurement procedures and stated that the regulatory documents comply with all important aspects of the Law "On Public Procurement"," SOCAR states.

Turan News Agency addressed SOCAR with an information request in February of this year regarding the non-compliance of the state company with the requirements of the legislation on public procurement and still has not received a comprehensive response. -08B-