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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