Case was initiated against Urganch State University

The Committee for the Development of Competition and Protection of Consumer Rights has reported that information has been submitted to the appropriate judicial body to establish administrative responsibility against Urganch State University for violating state procurement laws. The case involves a tender with an initial price of 29.7 billion soums.

The initial price was for the construction of a 7-story, 600-bed student accommodation building by Urganch State University, under a public-private partnership, which was the focus of the procurement process.

During the investigation, it was discovered that the project, titled "Construction of a 7-story, 600-bed student accommodation building," was categorized as sectoral affiliation and risk category II in a questionnaire submitted by the university to the Khorezm Region Construction Bidding Consulting Center.

However, according to the Cabinet of Ministers' decision No. 496, dated August 20, 2020, higher education buildings up to nine floors should be classified as category III and included in the "Transparent Construction" national information system.

By misclassifying the project as category II, Urganch State University limited the participation of construction organizations from other regions in the tender process.

As a result, the regional administration's special commission initiated a case against the university for violating Article 29 of the Law "On Competition." The established procedure led to administrative responsibility being imposed on the official responsible for the procurement process. The case has been referred to the relevant judicial authority.

Additionally, an instruction was issued to rectify the violation and ensure that similar issues do not occur in the future.