Electronic Procurement Implementation In Government Agencies Of Kazakhstan

Over the past 20 years,there has been a noticeable trend towards the implementation of electronic procurements.On the wave of this trend,the Republic of Kazakhstan has also introduced an electronic procurement system at the state level.The reasons for such a transition are easily explained and understandable:e-procurement tend to reduce the cost,shorten the duration of supply,and increase the transparency of these transactions(Davila,Gupta and Palmer,2003).This paper highlights the results of the implementation of e-procurement system in public sector of the Republic of Kazakhstan as well as some aspects that emerged during the implementation process.The study is based on interviews with government officials,as well as with employees of organizations involved in the procurement process as suppliers.It was found that,in general,the implementation of e-procurement in the public sector was a success.Many conclusions coincide with the works mentioned in the literature review.Representatives of small and medium-sized businesses got access to a constant distribution channel for the goods or services,in addition,with the shift to e-procurement contractors have expanded areas of supply.Moreover,the transparency of procurement process has increased significantly,cost reductions and shorter delivery times have also been noted.The introduction of a digital procurement site has greatly simplified the process of finding potential suppliers,which is also a positive effect from the transition to e-procurement.Besides that,some problematic aspects of the existing procurement model are also identified.Therefore,despite the increased transparency of the public procurement process,the problems of corruption remain unresolved.Many respondents noted procurement from a single source as one of the main problems of the current procurement model.Apart from that,dumping and deterioration in the quality of the goods supplied were noted.Based on the data,a new procurement model has been proposed,designed to solve existing problems.Thus,in order to prevent intentional procurement from a single source,it is proposed to grant control over the preparation of tender technical specifications to a special state body that will be engaged in checking tender requirements for tailoring under a specific contractor.In addition,to solve the problem of dumping,it is proposed to prohibit the conclusion of additional agreements between the parties,and in cases of extreme necessity,to transfer consideration of additional agreements between the parties to the control of the newly created body mentioned previously.In addition,it is proposed to create a tracking system of average market prices for goods and services,which will help to detect cases of deliberate dumping.In addition to all the above,the author proposes to introduce a catalog of successful and efficient small and medium-sized enterprises,following the example of the Republic of Korea,with which Kazakhstan has concluded a cooperation agreement.The catalog will contain information about the main activities of the enterprises,and the selection of companies in the catalog will be made on the basis of the number of completed orders,time spent on order fulfillment,feedback from previous customers,etc.The introduction of such a catalog,from the author's point of view,will contribute to the development of small and medium-sized businesses and will be an additional incentive for the qualitative performance of contractual obligations between parties.