“Government will launch the public procurement portal in a new form from January 1” – Timur Ishmetov

“There is no interest in the Ministry of Finance and the government in closing the deficiencies in state purchases,” Finance Minister Timur Ishmetov said at the plenary meeting in response to the senators’ question. He added that although the public procurement portal has all the information, it is difficult to find flaws due to the huge amount of information, and from January 1, 2023, the ministry will launch the portal in a new format. In the new portal, data will be displayed analytically in the form of graphs.

At the 35th plenary session of the Senate, Senator Abdurakhim Erkinov asked why the report of the Finance Ministry does not mention the shortcomings of state procurement.

“Is the Ministry of Finance interested in hiding the shortcomings of public procurement from the Senate? In Kashkadarya, in 10 cases, contracts worth 3.4 billion soums were artificially put up for sale in parts, and in 17 cases, contracts were purchased at a price higher than the initial price of 6.6 billion soums. It is not surprising that the situation is worse in the entire republic,” the senator said.

In response to the question, Finance Minister Timur Ishmetov said that according to the government’s report, the task is received, and after approval by law, it will be presented in the agreed form next year.

He added that the Ministry of Finance and the government as a whole have no interest in closing the gaps in public procurement.

“The fact that the state procurement portal has been created and is open is a proof of this. The portal has all the information. But based on your and other users’ criticisms, we have redesigned the portal. We received the support of relevant international financial organizations, adapted them to international standards, and developed their grants. From January 1 next year, the portal will be launched in a new form. Although all the information on the portal is still visible, we have analyzed it automatically and presented it in the form of graphs with Big Data,” the minister said.

Ishmetov admitted that there is a lot of information on the portal, and any shortcomings can be found only by opening the portal.

“However, due to the large amount of information, it is difficult for the average user. One may think that there is no information, but there will be. We will launch the portal in the new year and will constantly improve it,” the minister noted.