Tuesday, 26 June 2007
Today the Governing Council of Millenium Challenge Account-Armenia SNCO has met at the Office of Government, presided at by Council Chairman, RA Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan.
The meeting has discussed the draft request and the enclosures to be submitted to the MCC for a fourth disbursement. The 4th disbursement application package includes the quarterly-made financial reports, the account of disbursement pre-conditions, the financial and working schedules, the quarterly progress reports, as well as the statement of procurements. Upon approval by the Millenium Challenge Account-Armenia SNCO Governing Council, the application will be handed over to the Chairman of the Governing Council for ratification.
It was noted that by this 4th application, MCA-Armenia expected to receive from the MCC USD 1.991.753 for the period July-September. USD 536.107 are intended for Rural Road Rehabilitation project, USD 1.802.405 will be allocated to the Irrigated Agriculture activity, USD 89.490 will be spent for monitoring and evaluation purposes and, finally, USD 489.921 will go to Management and Oversight component of the program. As a result, actual planned spending for the next quarter will rise to USD 2.917.923. The gap between the requested amount and actual planned spending will be filled up with the balance of bank account.
MCA-Armenia CEO Ara Hovsepyan briefed meeting participants on the program status and key activities carried out for the first quarter of 2007.
The Council has similarly discussed and approved the standard competition documents package, developed on the basis of the 2004 WB standard competition package and harmonized with MCC requirements.
The Council then discussed and approved the draft contract on the purchase of consulting services for the preliminary environmental and hydrological survey of over-damp soil in Ararat Valley, subject to MCC approval, too. The Council followed the same procedure to endorse the draft contract on the purchase of consulting services for the feasibility study under New Irrigation Reservoirs Construction Project.
The Millenium Challenge Account-Armenia SNCO Governing Council similarly examined the combined financial and technical bid evaluation results of the tender announced for the purchase of consulting services under Revision and Improvement of Rules Applicable to Routine and Winter Maintenance of Motor-Roads Project. The membership of the Governing Council approved the tender documents regarding the selection of a contractor for H-17 Armavir-Isahakian-Gyumri 2 motor-road sections reconstruction under the Rural Road Rehabilitation Component. It was mentioned that initially this activity was intended for implementation by Lincy Foundation, but part of work was left incomplete for lack of resources.
These road sections have been reconsidered and re-assessed by the SWECO Int. (Sweden), a contractor of Millenium Challenge Account-Armenia SNCO. The resulting projects have already been endorsed by the consulting companies providing technical assistance to the MCC.
The selection of a contractor for these activities will be carried out by means of an open tender procedure /ICB/. All necessary documents for this competition were reported to have been prepared already.
