(19 February 2026 | Source: Aqparat.info, official public procurement portal of the Republic of Kazakhstan)
In recent tenders by KAZservice LLP for road markings across Kazakhstan, a uniform requirement for marking suppliers has been recorded: to use special two-component paint with an acrylic binder modified with epoxy groups. This requirement appeared in tenders for 2026 simultaneously in seven regions of the country.
While information about a possible restriction of competition in favour of a single supplier is spreading in the media, the editorial board of FBRK decided to clarify all the circumstances of the case independently. And as is often the case with high-profile stories, the reality turned out to be somewhat more complex than any of the versions.
WHAT HAPPENED: SEVEN REGIONS - ONE TEMPLATE
Recently, information appeared in the media that KAZservice LLP (a subsidiary of JSC "NC "KazAvtoZhol", authorised to manage republican highways) is conducting large-scale procurement of road markings for a specific supplier.
It was reported that the tender requirements were essentially written for the products of the Belarusian company "STIM" — namely the paints "Sprinter DUO" (AK-517) and "Sprinter PRO" (AK-510). The Kazakh distributor of "STIM", "STIM-Asia" LLP, with a declared local content of only 14%, was also mentioned in the text.
It was specifically noted that the pilot project with this paint, launched in 2025, has not yet been completed and its results have not been officially summarised, yet new tenders have already been announced. The total volume of procurement was estimated at approximately 1.4 billion tenge.
According to data from the public procurement portal, between January and February 2026, KAZservice LLP indeed posted a series of tenders on the public procurement portal for applying road markings.
The FBRK editorial board checked the technical documentation for more than 20 lots in seven regions of Kazakhstan.
In all tenders for busy highways, an identical technical wording is indeed present: the supplier is obliged to use "special two-component paint" (component 1 — paint, component 2 — hardener) with a binder of "acrylic, modified with epoxy groups", a spreading rate of 180–200 g/m², and a functional durability period of at least 12 months. In later technical specifications, another parameter was added: "the amount of hardener not less than 5% of the paint volume".
The largest set of lots was announced in the Akmola Region: four lots on roads around Astana totalling approximately 587 million tenge. Procurement of a comparable scale in the Pavlodar Region, three lots on the "Astana–Pavlodar" and "Pavlodar–Omsk" highways, amounts to a further approximately 347 million tenge.
In the Karaganda Region, three lots cover different sections of the "Astana–Almaty" highway, totalling approximately 182 million tenge. The Kostanay branch placed two lots on the KAZ19 "Kostanay–Karabutak" road and the toll section of KAZ03 "Astana–Kostanay" — for a total of 107.6 million tenge. The Abay Region branch offered one lot on the KAZ07 "Pavlodar–Semey–Kalbatau" road for 56.5 million tenge.
The Zhambyl branch covered two routes at once: lots on the "Taraz–Kainar" highway — approximately 48.4 million tenge, and on the "Taraz–Shymkent" highway — approximately 11 million tenge. In all the listed lots, the requirement for two-component paint with a 12-month guarantee is present without exception, and the textual match of the specifications is verbatim.
Notably, the Ulytau Region stands out from the general trend: here, ordinary one-component paint with a guarantee of only 3 months is used. This suggests that the decision to switch to two-component paint was made on a differentiated basis, not as a directive for the entire network.
WHAT IS TWO-COMPONENT PAINT AND WHY IT MATTERS
Two-component marking paints are a technology where the paint and hardener are mixed immediately before application. Polymerisation creates a durable coating with a longer service life. This technology is used in a number of countries under high-intensity traffic. However, it requires specialised equipment, different storage and supply logistics, and appropriate contractor qualifications.
National standards set requirements for the characteristics of markings (durability, retroreflection, wear resistance), but do not mandate the obligatory use of two-component materials specifically for particular road categories. The choice of technology is usually determined by the project documentation and the customer's terms of reference. That is, the customer independently forms the technical requirements, which directly determine the range of possible suppliers.
WHAT THIS MEANS IN PRACTICE
Regardless of the customer's initial ideas and objectives, in the technical specifications we can observe textual uniformity of specifications across different regions. The technical description of the two-component paint in the lots of the Akmola, Karaganda, Pavlodar, and Zhambyl branches matches verbatim.
In later specifications — from the Abay Region, Kostanay, and Zhambyl (in the first edition) branches — the parameter "the amount of hardener not less than 5% of the paint volume" was added. This is an atypical technical indicator. Its appearance in several unrelated lots simultaneously points to a single source, and possibly to the technical data sheet of a specific product.
But let us return to the context of the Belarusian company. The names of specific paint brands are not contained in the publicly available tender specifications. The documents checked by FBRK feature exclusively technical parameters without specifying the manufacturer.
However, the requirement regarding the freshness of the paint is telling: "the production date of the marking paint must be no earlier than 2026" — a norm present in all tenders involving two-component paint. This condition de facto excludes the use of warehouse stocks and requires production for the specific marking season, which indirectly tightens the competitive environment.
All these requirements, without a doubt, significantly narrow the pool of potential suppliers. Not every company operating in the road marking market has the appropriate equipment and supply chain for specialised materials.
The total volume of procurement we checked exceeds 1.37 billion tenge. Moreover, the company is a monopoly customer in the republican road maintenance market, which makes the transparency of its procurement policy a matter of public interest.
One thing remains undocumented — a direct reference to specific trade marks. However, this in itself does not refute the version, because the technical parameters specified in the tenders, taken together, represent a rather specific profile. We do not rule out that this profile corresponds to the products of a specific manufacturer.
The chronology of events also deserves special attention. If the new tender procedures were indeed initiated before the results of the 2025 pilot project were finalised, within the framework of which two-component paint was first being trialled on Kazakh roads, then the professional community may well have questions regarding the justification and consistency of such a decision.