Public procurement methods in Kazakhstan: open tender, auction, RFQ, single-source and e-shop

Five methods in one table

The open tender, auction, RFQ and e-shop are considered competitive methods and take priority. The law prohibits splitting a purchase to move it into a “simpler” method.

Request for price quotations (RFQ)

The most widely used method for small purchases. Only price matters: the portal itself picks the lowest offer, and negotiations are prohibited. The announcement is posted no later than two business days before the deadline for offers — so with RFQs it is important to check for new lots every day.

• Bid security — 3% of the amount; contract performance security — 5%.
• Dumping means a price more than 10% below the allocated amount; such a price is allowed only with an anti-dumping amount.
• If there is only one offer, the contract is concluded with that supplier as a single source. If there are none, a repeat RFQ is announced.
• Since 7 October 2026, the entire RFQ cycle — from announcement to contract — runs on the Unified Procurement Platform zakup.gov.kz.

E-shop

Suitable for goods only. Without a pre-order, the platforms provide prices within 15 minutes; with a pre-order, prices are accepted for 24 hours; if the amount exceeds 500 MCI, only a pre-order is allowed. The supplier confirms the order within 3 working hours (09:00 to 18:00 Astana time).

An order requires at least two price offers (one for goods exempted from the national regime). A price more than 30% below the average of all offers is considered dumping and is rejected automatically.

Auction

An auction is held for goods only, on the business day following the admission protocol. Bidding goes down from the lowest starting price in steps of 0.5% to 5%: 30 minutes plus 10 minutes after the last bid. The starting price cannot be more than 5% below the allocated amount.

Bids are accepted for at least 5 business days after the preliminary discussion protocol (at least 3 for a repeat auction). Bid security is 1%.

Open tender

Used for everything that does not fit the other methods — primarily works and large services. First, draft tender documentation is published and comments are collected for 2 business days; then bids are accepted for at least 5 business days (at least 3 under a rating-and-points system).

The portal determines the winner automatically by the conditional price: the offered price is reduced by conditional discounts for experience, the taxes-paid indicator, location in the region where the work is performed, audited financial statements, product characteristics and inclusion in the register of domestic producers. In a tie, the bidder with higher financial stability wins.

Varieties of the open tender: with pre-qualification, with a rating-and-points system, and turnkey construction.

Single-source procurement

A direct contract without competition is possible on one of the 43 grounds listed in Article 16. The most common is small purchases: homogeneous goods up to 100 MCI a year (432,500 ₸) and works or services up to 500 MCI (2,162,500 ₸). Another frequent case is a failed open tender or auction.

Outside suppliers cannot take part in such purchases: the supplier is chosen in advance. That is why single-source announcements are hidden by default in the MyTender catalogue.