(9 February 2026 | Source: Republic of Kazakhstan public procurement portal)
The tender for chemical treatment of agricultural land against locust swarms in 2026 is under threat of delays even before the application period has begun. Procurement participants have raised concerns about potential violations in the tender documentation, which they believe restrict competition and could lead to a review of the tender conditions.
WHAT IS THIS ABOUT
This concerns a major procurement of locust control services, announced by the State Inspection Committee in the Agro-Industrial Complex of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The total value of the tender is 1.915 billion tenge, divided into 7 regional lots.
The largest lot is for the Turkistan Region — approximately 1 billion tenge, accounting for more than half of the total budget. Work in the southern regions is scheduled to begin as early as spring.
WHY QUESTIONS HAVE ARISEN
During the preliminary discussion of the tender documentation on the public procurement portal, official comments were submitted by two companies:
- 6 February — from the Municipal Institution ‘Service “Dezo”’;
- 8 February — from LLP ‘ZapKazFumigatsiya’.
The essence of the complaints is that, in the technical specification, the customer included requirements for potential suppliers to have a fleet of ground-mounted fan sprayers, with mandatory confirmation via registration and technical documents.
According to the complainants, these requirements are effectively qualification criteria, yet they have been placed in a section that should describe the service itself, rather than the conditions for admitting participants to the tender.
THE LEGAL NUANCE
The participants point out that the subject of the procurement falls under licensed services, and in such cases, the current Public Procurement Rules do not provide for the establishment of qualification requirements related to material resources.
It is this, according to the companies, that creates unjustified barriers to participation in the tender and narrows the pool of potential suppliers.
WHY TIMING MATTERS
The situation is complicated by the fact that locust control work is strictly tied to biological timelines. In the southern regions, treatments must begin in April, and in several areas, the effective ‘window’ for targeting the pests is limited to a few months.
If the documentation is revised or procedures are delayed, the deadlines for signing contracts could shift, increasing the risk that work will not start on time.
WHAT HAPPENS NEXT
For now, the tender is formally ongoing, with applications scheduled to be accepted in February. However, market participants are awaiting the publication of the minutes of the preliminary discussion and the customer’s decision regarding the comments received.
It is these decisions that will determine whether the procurement proceeds according to the current schedule or requires adjustments.
EDITORIAL OPINION
Even the technical wording in tender documentation can have serious consequences. In procurements where both the scale of financing and strict seasonal deadlines are crucial, any legal uncertainty increases the risk of disruption. In such cases, it is especially important to resolve contentious requirements in advance, rather than allowing the situation to lead to procedural delays.