Uzbekistan develops law on public procurement

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- Public procurement is the acquisition of goods and services for government needs partially or entirely at the expense of the state budget.

Public procurement is important as it provides the public sector, including schools, hospitals, and other institutions, with all necessary goods and services of high quality, in the right quantities and at affordable prices.

Totaling to 11% of GDP, public procurement makes one third of the consolidated budget and its effectiveness depends on the effectiveness of the entire budget. Based on this, the Government of Uzbekistan pays great attention to the improvement of public procurement.

For example, the Resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan # PP-1475 and a number of legal acts have been adopted. The Governmental Commission on Public Procurement has been established and tasked to develop proposals for improving the regulatory framework in this area.

One of the main tasks of "Budget System Reform in Uzbekistan" project is to assist the Government of Uzbekistan in improving the public procurement system. Project activities in this area are focused on drafting the Strategy on further development of the public procurement system until 2025, the Law "On public procurement" and the regulations on major procurement procedures, as well as technical materials.

In the course of development and discussion of the draft law and the legal acts the Project helped local experts, professors and scholars to learn international best practices and analyze the possibility of applying experiences compatible with local realities.

Development and application of clear and thoughtful public procurement procedures, especially tenders, will accelerate the implementation of major investment projects, ensure reasonable "price-quality" ratio of goods, works and services, and stimulate the domestic producers. To this end it was important to organize intensive exchange of views among the public procurement experts, taking into account the interests of all stakeholders. Also, it was important to carefully weigh all "pros" and "cons" so that make quality improvements in the proposed draft Strategy on further development of the public procurement system until 2025, the Law "On public procurement ", and the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers "On further measures to improve the public procurement system."

To that end, the Project organized a series of events, discussions, round tables and presentations. The issues of ensuring competition, transparency, accountability, and efficiency, as well as enhancing the efficiency of public procurement and solving the problems arising as part of current practice of public procurement were considered in details. In the course of discussions proposals have been made to solve the problems of preparation to tenders, the issues of determining maximum prices, providing the "price-quality" ratio, and holding expertise. The suggestions were made how to divide tenders into stages, appeal against the tender outcomes, define the object of procurement in the electronic trading and so on. Amendments were proposed to provide flexibility and simplify public procurement procedures.

A round table with participation of Ms. Olga Anchishkina, UNDP international consultant who prepared the expert review of the draft Law "On public procurement", as well as recommendations for improvement of the document, was very interesting. According to her, the framework type draft law is a good idea, but the draft should be supplemented by more detailed description of “who” is doing “what” and “when” in public procurement procedures. It is very important to avoid duplication of efforts.

A number of activities were implemented by the Project in close collaboration with the World Bank.

It is expected that the adoption of the Law "On public procurement" will increase the efficiency and transparency of budget funds spending, as well as improve the quality of public services. And that will, ultimately, contribute to further growth of the country’s prosperity.