Government tenders under scrutiny: Thousands of legal breaches detected

The committee analyzed 9,322 tenders conducted by government customers in the first half of the year, with an initial amount of 6.065 trillion UZS.

The analysis revealed 6,611 cases of competition violations in 5,153 competitive tenders (55.2%).

Specifically, out of 7,670 tenders for the procurement of goods and materials, 5,287 competition violations were identified. In 194 construction tenders, there were 125 violations, and in 1,458 service tenders, 1,199 violations were found.

Materials for 3,423 cases were forwarded to law enforcement agencies for action within their powers, and 157 procurements were voluntarily corrected by the customers.

In 1,573 cases, 562 proceedings were initiated, and appropriate measures were taken. A total of 535 officials who violated procurement legislation were held administratively responsible.

Additionally, during this period, the Committee received 317 appeals and applications from legal and physical entities in this field. Of these, 293 were reviewed by the Committee, and 24 were referred to relevant organizations for consideration.

The following appeals revealed violations of Article 29 of the Competition Law:

•  The joint-stock commercial bank "Bank of Business Development" announced a tender for the supply of information devices with an initial cost of 7.8 billion UZS on February 7, 2024. This tender violated legal requirements, and the Committee issued an order to correct these violations.
•  The Tashkent City branch of JSC "Regional Electric Networks" announced a tender for transformer repair services with an initial cost of 6.4 billion UZS, and the Jizzakh regional branch announced a tender worth 1.5 billion UZS. In both cases, violations of established requirements were found, and the Committee ordered the cancellation of decisions and contracts resulting from these tenders.
•  The Center for Phthisiology and Pulmonology announced a tender worth over 1 billion UZS for outsourcing services for preparing dietary meals for patients. This tender also revealed legal violations, and the Committee issued an order to correct them.