On October 10, 2013, ISET Policy Institute signed a memorandum of understanding with the Competition and State Procurement Agency of Georgia (CSPA). The main points of this memorandum were granting access to its information and analyzing the dataset.

One of the strategic goals of the agency is to increase academic interest in public procurement and find competent people to explore this system. Tato Urjumelashvili, head of the CSPA, stated that the agency needs the involvement of smart people to explore the data in various ways. ISET-PI and the CSPA will also work together to support internships for ISET students.

After signing the memorandum, Tato Urjumashvili delivered a presentation about the current unified online state procurement system and reviewed the reforms implemented by the CSPA. With the establishment of the Georgian Electronic Government Procurement System in December 2010 a transparent and competitive environment for any participant in state procurement procedures was created. The aim and result of the system is that “everyone sees everything”. So far, only Georgia (through the CSPA) and Albania provide 100% of tenders electronically (excluding certain areas, such as those protected by state secrecy). By creating e-procurement reforms in Georgia the CSPA avoided the high risk of corruption, the lack of transparency, non-reliable data, restricted competition, geographical inequality and high compliance costs. According to a new report by Transparency International Georgia, the state-of-the-art official online procurement system is one of the most transparent and efficient systems in the world.

In his talk, Mr. Urjumelashvili explained the simple mechanism the system provides its users: the system provides tender documentation that is free of charge and offers a unique “tender proposal/bids” mechanism that later becomes open for competitors. Furthermore, the system has a “freeze button” that can be used by any user (either a participant or non-participant in the tender). This “freeze button” allows users to appeal any ongoing tender and will result in that tender being examined by the Dispute Resolution Board. He stated that unfortunately the “freeze button” is rarely used, which indicates the low competence of the customers. According to Mr. Urjumelashvili, the system is only as efficient and as competent as its users. He also discussed auction issues and political cycles. According to him, elections negatively affect the number of electronic tenders (i.e. the number of electronic tenders decrease), however, the number of direct contracts significantly increase.

After the presentation both sides agreed to meet and discuss more deeply the huge dataset that the CSPA has collected over the last few years.