The Special Investigation Service announced an open tender for the construction of the New Head Office (HQ) Project

On November 2, 20223, the Special Investigation Service announced an open tender for the construction of the headquarters through the unified electronic system of state procurement. The tender conditions are publicly posted in the unified electronic system of state procurement and are available to all interested parties.

Before the announcement of the tender, based on an open competition the service selected the company for the architectural project development and presented the New Head Office project to the representatives of the Public Defender office, international organizations, the diplomatic corps, construction companies and the media and applied to the architectural department of the Tbilisi City Hall to obtain a construction permit.

We remind the public, that with the support of the Government of Georgia, a 4,440 m2 state land plot located on the 12th km of Davit Aghmashenebeli alley in Tbilisi, was handed over to the Service for the new HQ construction.

The Head Office (HQ) designed for 150 workers will be fully tailored to specific functions and activities of the Service. In addition, the building will be furnished with all the necessary equipment and technologies for security in compliance with fire and labour safety standards. Common areas and workspaces in the administrative building will be fully accessible for the disabled (PwDs). The construction area will cover approximately 5,877 square meters and will include 5 floors with conference and briefing areas, rooms for interviewing minors, meeting citizens and conducting line-ups.

The building includes 2 underground floors with modern standard evidence storage, an archive, a server and a parking space.

About 18,000,000 GEL has been allocated for the construction and the completion is planned in 24 months.

from March 1, 2022, the Special Investigation Service was launched with significantly increased functions. Therefore, institutional and infrastructural strengthening became inevitable in response to the challenges faced by the service.

The proper functioning of the Special Investigation Service as an independent investigation mechanism is important for the protection of human rights and the effective investigation of the facts of ill-treatment in the country and it is evidenced by the 12-point recommendation of the European Commission which highlights the institutional, financial, legislative and infrastructural strengthening of the service.

Nowadays, the Head Office of the Special Investigation Service is located at M.Asatiani Street in Tbilisi, in the building that the State Inspector’s Service started to rent. In addition, along with the increased number of staff, additional office space was leased. The rent of both offices is about 700,000 GEL per year and this process is still ongoing.

Considering the lack of space and the configuration of the building, it is not possible to arrange important and specific spaces in the building, such as juvenile interrogation rooms, temporary detention rooms, enough interrogation and identification rooms, evidence storage, conference, briefing room, etc. Also, the building does not have a suitable space for parking and a proper working environment for employees. It should be mentioned that it’s technically impossible to fully adapt the building to the needs of the Disabled (PwDs).

Additionally, the Special Investigation Service received a dilapidated building owned by the state and used by the State Inspector’s Service, located at 2 Kosta Khetagurovi Street / 2 Saint Nikoloz Street in Tbilisi. The SIS was planning to build a Head office there and it had already procured design documentation and rehabilitation works. However, after the launching of construction, on November 29, 2021, part of the roofing between floors and load-bearing walls collapsed and the rehabilitation works were stopped due to the increased risk. An examination was appointed to determine the cause of the collapse and the additional needs assessment to strengthen the building. Accordingly, the dilapidated building was returned to the National Agency of State Property and an investigation was launched regarding the reasons for the collapse of the building.

The Special Investigation Service will provide the public with all necessary information about the progress of the New Head Office construction.