The BAS Programme, administered by the TurnAround Management (TAM) and Business Advisory Services (BAS) Programme Team at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, was established in 1995 to support the continuing development of private enterprises. The BAS Programme currently operates in 17 countries through 27 offices and to date has undertaken over 5,100 projects with over EUR 58 milion donor funding.

As a new SME support initiative the BAS Programme was launched in Armenia in 2003 and funded by the European Union (EU) within the scope of European Union Programme for the continuing development of private enterprises in Armenia.

Since 2005 the EBRD BAS Programme for Armenia is supported by the EBRD Multi-Donor Fund for the Early Transition Countries and since April 2007 by USAID/Armenia, U.S. Agency for International Development, as well.

Since 2005 a new initiative on assisting women entrepreneurs supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is in progress.

The Programme works directly with enterprises to define their consultancy needs and to specify the terms of reference for services to be provided by local consultants. BAS mentors and facilitates the consultancy service throughout the process of tendering and delivery, and provides a grant for a proportion of the consultancy cost on successful completion. BAS also helps to develop the skills of local consultancy services, so that if a service in demand is not available locally, BAS will seek to train local consultants to deliver the service.

EBRD BAS Programme for Armenia offers a wide range of professional consulting services to eligible SME's, paying up to 50% of consultancy costs for approved projects. Maximum BAS funding is EUR 9,000 per project. To promote the development of SMEs in the regions of Armenia, BAS Programme is implementing a differentiated approach and applying higher subsidy rates of up to 70% of consultancy costs.