The Committee on Internal State Audit of the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Kazakhstan provides leadership in the areas of internal state audit and financial control, public procurement, state property, auditing activities, accounting and financial reporting, evaluation activities.
1. Question: What benefits (advantages) are provided to domestic producers when participating in public procurement?
Answer: The Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan establishes an exemption from the national regime in order to support domestic producers, that is, it forms a certain list of goods, works and services whose purchases are made exclusively among domestic producers. This list is updated in stages and posted on the main page of the public procurement portal:
- There are also separate support measures, such as an advance of 50% of the contract amount, which provides a working means for production and delivery of goods.
- Extended delivery lead times of goods - if the minimum lead time for general procurement is 15 calendar days, then for domestic producers the minimum lead time is 60 calendar days.
- In addition, if a potential supplier is included in the register of Kazakh producers, the web portal automatically provides a conditional discount of 3 (three) percent.
- Domestic producers are also exempted from the mandatory payment of contract enforcement, advance and/or anti-dumping amount.
2. Question: Some construction projects are not completed on time. What is being done about such unscrupulous contractors?
Answer: Pursuant to article 8, paragraph 4, of the Public Procurement Act, a register of unscrupulous contracting parties is maintained on the web portal, which consists of a list of suppliers who have not fulfilled and inadequately fulfilled their obligations under contracts concluded with them.
In the event of a delay by the Departments, measures shall be taken to include such vendors in the designated roster.
In addition, the customer must file a lawsuit with the court no later than thirty calendar days from the day when he became aware of the fact that the supplier violated the law on public procurement and (or) the terms of the contract.
It should be noted that potential suppliers and (or) suppliers included in the register of unfair bidders are not allowed to participate in public procurement for twenty-four months from the date of entry into force of the court’s decision recognizing them as unfair bidders.
In this case, according to the requirements of the Regulations, the customer shall ensure the collection of penalties (fine, penalty) for each day of default, and furthermore, the enforcement of the contract, security of advance payment, anti-dumping amount, shall not be returned to the supplier in case of contract termination due to non-performance or improper performance by the supplier of contractual obligations.
3. Question: The organizers set too complex qualification requirements that prevent participation in public procurement. What can be done in such situations?
Answer: The territorial departments of the Committee are constantly monitoring public procurement. In the implementation of control measures, unnecessary qualification requirements are excluded even before approval of the competition documentation.
In addition, paragraph 169 of the Procurement Regulations regulates the procedure for preliminary discussion of tender documents and all potential suppliers are given the opportunity to send through the web portal requests for clarification of the rules and provisions of tender documents, to which the Organizer must respond.
Therefore, in case you consider that the qualification requirements are too high and do not meet the requirements of the legislation, you need to use this institution and send a request.
In addition, during the preliminary discussion period you can address your complaint to the authorized body for action.
It is important to understand that subsequent complaints from potential suppliers regarding the rules of the tender documentation, which were not submitted after a review by an authorized authority, are not considered.
4. Question: I am an entrepreneur and I have my own production base, with specialized equipment that is idle. Wanted to participate in the procurement of road maintenance works, but the Governor’s Office does not announce public procurement for such works and, moreover, on the portal we have identified contracts concluded for a period of three years. Is it legal to conclude public procurement contracts for a period of more than one year?
Answer: The conclusion and execution of contracts shall be carried out in accordance with the law, civil legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, regulations on the conduct of public procurement, and according to paragraph 3 of article 17 of the Law, the contract shall be concluded for a period of one fiscal year.
However, paragraph 562 of the Procurement Regulations stipulates that, in order to optimize and efficiently spend the money used for public procurement, it is permissible to conclude a contract for more than one fiscal year, provided there is appropriate funding in the approved (updated) budget (development plan) for the following years.
Thus, public procurement contracts can be concluded for a period of three years with the availability of budgetary funds and this does not conflict with the regulations on public procurement.
5. Question: If the public authority itself has awarded a subsidy and then an audit has found it to be unreasonable, is the transferee fully liable or is this considered an error of the public authority and should be punished on its part?
Answer: If budgetary funds have been paid unreasonably, they shall be refunded. In this regard, as the ultimate recipient of the budget funds, you are obliged to return the subsidy, which is the right decision. In the event of failure to pay back, the matter is voluntarily subject to judicial review. The public body that accepted and approved the application is also liable, including criminal liability in case of signs.