Ministry of Defense Purchases from Single Source: Vicious Practice Continues

It is no news that Armenian state agencies often make large purchases from a single source. This situation deprives other companies of the opportunity to participate in tenders, and this practice continues. The Armenian Ministry of Defense has made purchases from a single source amounting to millions of drams, funded by reallocations from savings in the 2021 budget, as reported by Armlur.am.

In particular, according to a decision adopted by the Armenian government, resources accumulated from the savings on the budgetary allocations designated for the Ministry of Defense in the 2021 state budget will be directed towards the recovery of losses from military operations, maintenance of military roads, and the construction of trenches and ditches. These allocations include funding for:

• Restoring losses of command vehicles: 465,000.0 thousand drams
• Equipping with rapid mobile bulldozers: 187,500.0 thousand drams
• Constructing trenches and ditches: 52,000.0 thousand drams
• Acquisitions containing state or service secrets: 325,327.8 thousand drams

All these purchases have been made from a single source.

Just days ago, this matter was also raised in parliament by ARF faction MP Aram Vardevanyan, who questioned a candidate member of the Commission for Prevention of Corruption, highlighting that purchases from a single source would be made for the colorful events on September 21.

For instance, the Ministry of Emergency Situations signed a contract on June 14 for 285,953,600 thousand drams with the “Nairit Plant” CJSC for services to safely store chemical substances present in the plant's technological systems, containers, and equipment. Notably, the payment for this contract will be made not by “Nairit Plant” CJSC, but by the Government.