The government has decided to allocate 48.9mln Armenian drams to the staff of the Prime Minister of Armenia for promoting the messages of “Armenia’s Transformation Strategy 2050”.
In accordance with the budget estimate, 26 mln AMD are to be spent on printing and billboard advertising “Armenia is my Hearth, People are my Family” banners.
Of the remaining 23 million drams, 18 mln will be spent on printing and promotion of “We aim to reach… by 2050” (emotional video messages, the contents of which are not yet finalized), and 4.9 million will be spent to pay for design costs.
The allocations are made from the government’s reserve fund.
According to the government decision, the advertising services will be procured through the single-source procedure, which means without a tender “given the specificity of banner printing and advertising services, shortage of time and urgency of services”.
It is not clear what is so “specific” about printing banners, or why is there “time shortage and urgency of services”?
The contents of “Armenia’s Transformation Strategy 2050” vision is not clear either. Is this a public service advertisement (PSA)? What kind of issues do the messages advertised as part of this vision address? What is the justification for selecting and promoting “Armenia is my Hearth, People are my Family” slogan? Do concepts such as “hearth home” and “family” need promotion in Armenia? How is this promotional campaign going to be measured, what are the expected results or success?
To these questions, the Public Relations department of the staff of the Prime-Minister of Armenia suggested to print them on the formal letterhead of Epress.am, stamp it, sign it and send to the relevant department. They promised to answer the questions submitted in due format and formulation within the terms specified by the law on Freedom of Information.