Journalist Mikhail Kozachkov reported that the Astana Municipal Services Department announced a tender worth over 15 billion tenge in a closed format — despite there being no grounds for such a procurement procedure.
On his Telegram channel «Kozachkov offside», he stated that the department initially launched two competitions — for the construction of a sewage collector and a technical water pipeline.
One tender was announced for 24 billion tenge, and the second for more than 15 billion tenge. Both competitions were subsequently cancelled without explanation. Later, the tender for the water pipeline was re-announced — but this time in a closed format.
As it turned out, under current law, a closed procurement procedure is only permitted in limited cases, for example, when secrecy is required (such as in the construction of military facilities or procurement for law enforcement agencies). However, in this case, the competition concerned a water pipeline — a facility not subject to state secrecy regulations.
Kozachkov suggested that the akimat may have been trying to conduct the procurement in favour of a predetermined contractor.
The journalist sent an official request to the Astana akimat asking for an explanation as to why the procurement was carried out in a closed format. He received a reply from the acting head of the Municipal Services Department, Olzhabek Beysov.
«In accordance with the Law of the Republic of Kazakhstan 'On State Procurement', state procurement using a special procedure is carried out in cases of acquiring goods, works, or services, information about which constitutes state secrets and/or contains restricted official information», the statement reads.
Meanwhile, lawyer Alexander Kruglov noted that this wording was contained in the previous version of the law, which has now expired.
«The new law, which came into effect on 1 January, also includes an article on the special procedure for conducting competitions, except that the phrase 'contains restricted official information' has been removed from it», the statement reads.
Kozachkov emphasised that the Municipal Services Department announced the closed competition on 15 January — after the new law had already come into force.