June 25, 2024

Administrative requirements for public tenders

Public procurement is regulated by the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On Public Procurement”. According to it, “public procurement” means “the process of ensuring the needs of government customers in goods (works, services) on a paid basis.” One of the types of procurement procedures is conducting a tender. Tender is a contest determining the contractor of public procurement through a competitive procedure for public procurement, according to the results of which the winner is the participant in the procurement procedures who proposed the best conditions for the execution of the public procurement contract [1].

Content

Legislation

The Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On Public Procurement” No. 684 dated 22.04.2021;
Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On approval of the Regulations on the Procedure for organizing and conducting Procedures related to public Procurement” No. 276 dated 20.05.2022;
Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers “On measures to further improve the process of organizing procurement procedures in public procurement using information and communication technologies” No. 37 dated 26.01.2021;
Decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan No. 6019 dated 06.07.2020 “On additional measures to further develop the competitive environment and reduce State participation in the economy.

Organization of tenders

Public procurement is carried out through the organization of a tender only in cases where the following conditions are simultaneously met:

the criteria for determining the winner have not only a monetary assessment but also a quantitative and qualitative assessment of the product (work, services);
the cost of goods (works, services) is over twenty-five thousand BRV (for budget customers — over six thousand BRV[2]) under one contract.

Information about the tender is communicated to interested parties by placing an announcement of the tender in a special information portal (Etender.uzex.uz), or on the official website of the state customer or its higher authority, as well as in the media, (not less than twelve working days and not more than thirty working days before the deadline for accepting bids from participants). The procurement documentation for the tender is placed by the state customer in the electronic public procurement system through a special information portal at the same time as the announcement of the tender is placed. The Procurement Commission reviews the procurement documentation and establishes the deadlines for accepting tenders; methods and criteria for evaluating tenders; the relative values of parts of the tender offer and, if necessary, for each criterion for evaluating the technical part; the size and form of the tender offer.

The announcement of the tender must contain the following information:

the form of the tender;
detailed description and starting price of the product (work, services);
address of the tender venue;
requirements for bidders;
the surname, first name, patronymic, position, and address of one or more officials or other employees of the state customer identified as contact persons for communication with the participants;
the date and time of the deadline for submitting proposals;
requirements for the design of the tender offer.

The tender is conducted mandatory in electronic form, except in cases provided for by law. A prerequisite for conducting a public tender is the creation of a procurement commission consisting of at least 7 people. The main purpose of the work of the procurement commission is an objective assessment and ordering of the proposals of participants in procurement procedures according to the degree of compliance with the order and the selection of the winner (winners) in competitive methods of public procurement [3]. The decision of the procurement commission is made by a majority vote of the total number of members of the procurement commission. In order to effectively carry out the functions of the procurement commission, each member of the commission and the executive secretary opens a personal account in the electronic public procurement system. After gaining access to the personal account, each member of the commission is obliged to enter data on the presence or absence of connections (affiliations) with business entities. If the chairman of the commission has ties of an affiliation nature, the process of conducting of tender is suspended until the appointment of a temporary new chairman. The members of the commission participate in the voting through their personal accounts.

Participation in state tender

In the announcement and procurement documentation for the tender, the procedure for submitting proposals from bidders through a personal account is established. The electronic documents that make up the participant’s tender offer are submitted according to standard forms determined by the operator. Bidders are required to provide reliable and authentic information and relevant documents. The offer may contain a sketch, a drawing, a drawing, a photograph and other image, a sample, or a sample of the goods that are the object of public procurement. If a bidder has questions about the requirements of the procurement documentation for the tender, he has the right to send a request to the customer via an electronic chat. Clarifications on the request must be given to the participant within two working days from the date of receipt of the request. Step-by-step instructions on how to participate in the tender for suppliers and customers are provided here.

In addition, to participate in electronic public procurement, participants must make the following payments:

the corporate customer and participants – the operator’s commission fee and the deposit of the parties (except in cases where the procurement commission has not established the requirement to pay the deposit);

the budget customer – the operator’s commission fee.

The necessitate for participants to deposit the tender by the state customer, as well as the amount of the deposit to be made, is determined by the procurement commission. This deposit is blocked until the conclusion of the contract, but if the winner of the tender refuses to agree with the state customer, the deposit is not refunded. During the selection process, it is allowed to establish a deposit in the amount not exceeding 5 percent of the value of the goods (work, services).

Requirements for participants

A participant in the procurement procedures is a natural or legal person ( a resident or non-resident of the Republic of Uzbekistan) [4], who participates in the procurement procedure as a bidder for the execution of public procurement. To participate in the tender, the following criteria must be met:

availability of necessary technical, financial, material, human, and other resources for the execution of the contract;
eligibility to conclude a contract;
absence of overdue taxes and fees;
the absence of insolvency procedures imposed on them;
the absence of an entry in the Unified Register of Unscrupulous Performers.

The state customer, if necessary, has the right to establish additional requirements for participants based on the specific properties or characteristics of the product (work, service).

Also, according to the Law “On Public Procurement”, bidders may be suspended in the following cases:

there is an entry about him in the Unified Register of Unscrupulous Performers;
he has overdue debts for the payment of taxes and fees;
insolvency procedures have been introduced in relation to him;
the participant does not meet the qualification, technical and commercial requirements of the procurement documentation;
the participant directly or indirectly offers, gives or agrees to give any current or former official or employee of a government customer or other government agency remuneration in any form, a job offer or any other valuable thing or service in order to influence the commission of any action, decision-making or application of any procurement procedure the state customer in the process of public procurement;
the participant commits anti-competitive actions or has a conflict of interest in violation of the law, as well as when cases of affiliation are identified.

The procedure for determining the winner of the tender.

The proposals of the bidders are reviewed and evaluated within a period not exceeding 45 working days from the end of the submission of proposals. The process of determining the winner of the tender takes place in two stages. At the time indicated in the announcement as the time of the tender, the procurement commission opens envelopes with proposals submitted by the bidders in turn to evaluate the proposals. During the procedure of opening envelopes with tender offers, the state customer makes a video recording, and in the process of opening envelopes, all submitted documents and the price of the commercial offer of the participants are announced, except in cases of holding a tender in electronic form [5]. In the first stage, the technical part of the bidder’s proposal is evaluated, and the second stage is carried out if there are relevant proposals from at least two participants. In the second stage, the price part of the offer is evaluated. Offers with a price higher than the starting price are excluded. The procurement commission has the right to establish additional requirements and criteria for participants, depending on the specifics of the service or the purchased product. The state customer has the right to cancel the tender at any time before the acceptance of the winning offer.

The winner is the tenderer who has proposed the best conditions for the execution of the contract based on the criteria specified in the procurement documentation for the tender and the offer. The result of the consideration and evaluation of proposals by the procurement commission is drawn up in a protocol. An extract from the protocol is published in the electronic public procurement system within three working days from the date of signing the protocol. A request for clarification of the results of the tender can be sent by any participant after the publication of the protocol. The results of the tender may be appealed by the participants in accordance with the established procedure.

Conclusion of an agreement with the winner of the tender

The contract based on the results of the tender is concluded on the same terms as specified in the procurement documentation for the tender and the offer, no later than ten working days from the date of determining the winner.. If the winner refuses to conclude the contract, the amount of the deposit made by him will not be refunded. In this case, the right to conclude a contract will pass to the reserve winner if he is determined by the procurement commission. If the reserve winner is not selected, the state customer conducts a new tender. Information about the concluded agreement must be published on a special information portal no later than three working days from the date of its conclusion. In addition, an agreement concluded in electronic form is entered into the Unified Register of Contracts. The scheme of procedure of public procurement through a tender can be found in the appendix to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated 20.05.2022 No. 276.

New requirements

From January 1, 2021:

executors of public procurement, as well as procurement of business entities and enterprises of strategic importance, are required to:
within two days from the date of their official announcement as winners based on the results of tenders and competitive bidding, selection of the best offers, as well as the results of direct negotiations, disclose information about their ultimate beneficiaries (beneficiaries) who have effective control through direct or indirect ownership of 25 percent or more of their shares (stakes) by posting relevant information on a special information portal for public procurement;
on an ongoing basis, post on their websites and a special information portal information on the status of the fulfillment of obligations under contracts concluded as a result of tender and competitive bidding, procedures for selecting the best offers, as well as direct negotiations.

[1] Art. 4 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On public procurement”.

[2] From December 1, 2023, in Uzbekistan 1 BRV (basic calculated value) is 340,000 sums.;

[3] Art. 20 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On public procurement”.

[4] Art. 23 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On public procurement”.

[5] Art. 69 of the Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan “On public procurement”.

Administrative requirements for public tenders

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