In Astana was held the regular meeting of the Interdepartmental Commission on the support of domestic producers in public procurement

Representatives of local executive bodies, NCE RK "Atameken", the leadership of the Chamber of entrepreneurs of Astana city, schools, colleges and kindergartens of the city, as well as domestic companies of light and woodworking industries participated in the meeting.

During the meeting, they discussed topical issues of increasing the share of local content in state procurement of works, goods and services in the field of education.

Opening the meeting, the deputy akim of Astana Andrei Lukin said that, according to the information of the public procurement, the percentage of local content in the last year’s total volume of purchased goods and services by the Metropolitan Department of Education and its subordinate organizations, amounted to almost 61%, and for six months of this year - 35%.

"The objective reason for reduction of the share of Kazakh content is exclusion of the concept "Kazakhstan content" from the legislation on public procurement in connection with the fact that the Republic of Kazakhstan on January 1, 2014 entered into the Eurasian Economic Union. It is also the customer’s failure to complete sections on the proportion of local content on the procurement web-portal, thus, the quantitative indicators do not reflect the actual numbers. In this regard, I ask the participants of public procurement to fill in correctly the appropriate sections", - said Andrey Lukin.

In order to support domestic manufacturers of uniforms, he instructed the Metropolitan Department of Education to study the issue of allocation of preferential retail space for school uniforms fairs.

Turning to NCE RK "Atameken", Lukin recommended to update the list of domestic producers for Astana city.

President of the Association of Light Industry Enterprises of Kazakhstan Lubov Khudova said that since 2005, the Association raises the question of the introduction of the single school uniforms in Kazakhstan. And finally, last year, corresponding changes have been introduced in the legislation, and this year has issued an order of the Minister of Education and Science. According to her, in Almaty, all schools have already introduced a single school uniform, but in Astana, the process is still hampered.

In order to support domestic producers and to adjust direct dialogue between them and potential buyers of their products – schools, the Association organized in Astana, Almaty and Pavlodar exhibitions of school uniforms, made by different domestic manufacturers. Together with representatives of the National Chamber of entrepreneurs, the working groups have visited the regions of Kazakhstan, where they held meetings with the heads of schools and parents' committees, they called upon to show patriotism and to buy school uniforms, made by domestic producers.

Lubov Khudova stressed that today the school uniform market in Kazakhstan is about 37 billion tenge, and only 7% of them are occupied by domestic manufacturers. The remaining share falls on goods from Russia, Turkey, China and Kyrgyzstan. The quality of imported products is sometimes doubtfull.

 "We have created the Committee on control of the quality of school uniforms under the Association. This year, we are ready to ensure control of the uniforms, which will arrive to Kazakhstan. We believe that the quality of school uniforms - is the health of our children and the nation", - she noted.

Based on the experience of the Association, Lubov Khudova recommended to stick to classic suits of dark blue color as a template for school uniforms.

Vice-President of the Association of Furniture and Woodworking Industry of Kazakhstan Igor Protsenko said that it brings together 90 of the existing 300 furniture manufacturers operating in Kazakhstan. At the same time not more than two dozen companies specialize  in the production of furniture for pre-school and school education institutions.

"The market of furniture for schools and kindergartens is estimated to be worth 15 billion tenge, despite the fact that there are around 7500 public schools in the country and 5500 pre-school educational institutions, and the market is clearly segmented. We distinguish two independent directions in this market - a market of subcontracting, when the supply of furniture is carried for construction of social infrastructure facilities, and when the supply of furniture is made in the framework of public procurement. Astana in this regard is the leader in the number of projects under construction in both school and pre-school institutions", - said Igor Protsenko.

Nevertheless, he stressed that the large furniture factories today are loaded to not more than 40%.

During their speeches, representatives of business and other associations shared their vision for support of domestic producers, producing products for the education sector.

Summing up the results of the meeting, the director of the Chamber of entrepreneurs of Astana Ghani Tasmaganbetov said that the Chamber receives many complaints from businesses that customers often deliberately make technical specification for imported products. As a result, we intervene with the prosecutor's office, financial control bodies and cancel the tender, prosecute those responsible.

"Such actions are in violation of the law, as prevent domestic producers from access to the procurement. There are such cases. Today representatives of five associations, 14 light industry companies, 27 furniture manufactures came to the meeting with the directors of schools. Our businessmen want to establish contact. And the National Chamber "Atameken" and the Chamber of entrepreneurs of Astana are ready to help you with this", - said Gani Tasmaganbetov.

The interdepartmental commission on support of domestic producers in public procurement was established by the Chamber of entrepreneurs of Astana jointly with the Metropolitan Akimat during the conference, chaired by First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan B. Sagintayev on February 4, 2016. It is composed of representatives of the prosecutor's office, SRC and several departments of the city, the branch of "Nur Otan" and business, deputies of Maslikhat.