The National Tourism Administration signed additional contracts of 5.6 million GEL worth with COVID hotels in December.
The Administration took permission on signing contracts without a tender from the government in 2021. For its part, the service period of COVID hotels expired on December 31, 2020.
Consequently, the National Tourism Administration has requested consent in the public procurement system "on the urgent purchase".
The document explains what caused the urgency:
"Based on the analysis from the Inter-Agency Coordinating Council, we considered it necessary to hold urgent negotiations with the hotels to accommodate people entering the country with the sufficient number of quarantine spaces in order to effectively prevent the further spread of the virus." - the document reads.
According to the same document, flights did not provide the exact number of people on board in advance, but only after their registration which made it harder to assign the hotels appropriately, considering the number of people to accommodate. "Direct purchase was necessary to meet this demand" - GNTA stated.
