Over the past four years, the public procurement system of Kyrgyzstan has taken serious steps towards reform, both in legal and technical sense. A new Law on Public Procurement was adopted and is being implemented throughout the country. Based on this law, which is in line with international best practice (the UNCITRAL model law), and with support from the Asian Development Bank, Kyrgyzstan now has a functioning electronic public procurement system. The process of public procurement has been moved online: from planning purchases to concluding contracts.
At the same time, the reform has encountered some difficulties that require a thorough solution. Despite the introduction of the electronic system, the website www.zakupki.gov.kg has some operational shortcomings.
These shortcomings include insufficient server capacity, lack of feedback options, and modules such as: consulting services, two-stage bidding, framework agreement, filing complaints and protests, etc. The absence of these modules does not allow procuring entities to fully implement the Law on Public Procurement. Also, in the context of Kyrgyzstan joining the international Open Government Partnership, there is a need to integrate the electronic public procurement system with information systems run by other state entities.
Taking into account that IT technologies are being actively introduced into all processes of state administration in Kyrgyzstan, and that developing electronic public procurement is one of the essential directions in the field of digital transformation, the state entity responsible for managing public procurement needs to continue to further develop the electronic public procurement system.
The following strategic documents are the basis for further development of the system of electronic public procurement:
- The State Program on Digital Transformation of the Kyrgyz Republic
- The Program of the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic
- Participation of Kyrgyzstan in the Open Government Partnership
- The Agreement on the Eurasian Economic Union
- Law of the Kyrgyz Republic on Public Procurement and other normative legal acts in the field of public procurement.
It should be noted that in the context of stagnating development of the electronic public procurement system in Kyrgyzstan, it is necessary to identify further directions of development that will be based on priority needs.
In this regard, the main tasks for 2018 have been identified and grouped, which are described in more detail below:
- Development of missing modules on the portal:
- Module for handling complaints and protests
- Module for the two-stage procedure
- Module for framework agreements
- Module for consulting services
- Module for sectoral documents
- Integration of the website with the databases of state bodies.
- Development of a new design for the website.
- Process optimization:
- Procurement planning
- Online evaluation of bids
- Execution of contracts
- Implementation of digital signatures.
- Formation of contracts.
- E-invoice.
- Electronic guarantee.
- API open data.
- Optimization of the findings of reports, statistics.
- Implementation of the possibility for the website to be used by projects financed by international organizations.
- Development of an electronic catalog.
- Feedback option.
To solve the above tasks, it is necessary for the state entity responsible for public procurement to implement the 2018 plan for developing the website, which reflects the main tasks above, in active cooperation with other state bodies and international organizations.
Public Procurement Legislation available at the following – link.
Public Procurement Portal of Kyrgyzstan – link.