BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 17. Artificial
intelligence (AI) would be appropriate to be used in tenders in
Azerbaijan, Vugar Bayramov, a member of the Parliament's Labor and
Social Policy Committee, said at the plenary session of the
parliament during the discussion of the draft law on amendment to
the Criminal Code today, Trend reports.


According to him, digitalization not only strengthens control
over various state programs but also allows for the electronization
of decisions on the use of budget funds, including public
procurement.


The MP noted that the closer use of AI in Azerbaijan is
currently one of the priorities of economic policy.


"In accordance with the conceptual directions of the draft law
we are discussing today, the use of artificial intelligence
capabilities in public procurement would serve to further increase
transparency. It would be appropriate to use AI both in evaluating
tender results and in improving the mechanism for calculating the
estimated price," he explained.


The MP recalled that, according to the Chamber of Accounts, in
43.1% of competitive procurements, the contract amount differed
from the estimated price by 20% or more.







"The large difference between the estimated price and the
contract value makes the issues of further strengthening efficiency
and transparency in public procurement relevant. The use of
artificial intelligence can both minimize external interventions
and subjective considerations in making tender decisions, as well
as reduce the difference between the estimated price and the
contract price and allow for more efficient use of public funds,"
he noted.


Bayramov added that the draft law also adds the use of funds of
state-owned legal entities to the issues of their intended use.


"It would be better if Article 308-1 of the Criminal Code
included funds allocated to public legal entities. In 2025, 1.16
billion manat ($680 million) was planned to be allocated to public
legal entities, and allocation of 895.2 million manat ($526.6
million) is expected this year. As it's seen, these are quite large
numbers. In this regard, strengthening the efficiency and
transparency in the use of state funds by public legal entities is
of particular importance from a fiscal perspective," he
concluded.


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