The Ministry of Finance of Kyrgyzstan is initiating amendments to the Law «On Public Procurement.» The draft document has been published for public discussion.
According to the ministry, the proposed changes are designed «to improve the public procurement system, introduce best practices, simplify procurement procedures, and minimize corruption risks.»
Despite having an annual turnover of 80 billion soms, the public procurement portal does not even cover its own maintenance costs. There are plans to make the system profitable.
Officials propose excluding the procurement of consulting services. According to the Ministry of Finance, such purchases accounted for only 0.05 percent of the total volume between 2022 and 2024. Regulating them under a separate chapter is deemed impractical.
It is also proposed to reduce the number of exceptional cases allowing for single-source procurement to 46 (from the current 57), which would limit opportunities for non-transparent purchases.
To strengthen anti-corruption measures, the principle of preventing corruption and conflicts of interest is proposed to be explicitly added.
The draft document also includes the modernization of the procurement web portal. It suggests introducing paid services to allow for self-financing and to cover the costs of an independent complaints commission.
Procurement procedures for purchases up to 200,000 soms will be simplified.
The Ministry of Finance supports organizations of people with disabilities, proposing to allow them to participate not only in the procurement of goods but also services, and to lift restrictions related to tax arrears.
A ban is introduced for violators: suppliers convicted of corruption offenses or violations in economic activities will be prohibited from participating in public procurement.
