Astana, 21 October. The Atomic Energy Agency has approved rules under which the national nuclear plant operator, Kazakhstan Nuclear Power Plants LLP, and its subsidiaries will buy equipment and choose contractors: some purchases may be made without a tender if they are approved by the customer's management and by the agency itself.
The order was signed by the agency's chairman Almasadam Satkaliyev on 13 October and takes effect on 30 October. As KazService notes, a separate procurement system with its own supplier register is in effect being created for the project. Purchases for nuclear plant projects, from external and internal infrastructure, design and surveys to turnkey construction and technical supervision, are made only among qualified suppliers from a special register. There are six methods: a request for price quotations with downward bidding, an open tender, a two-stage open tender, a closed tender, a two-stage closed tender and single-source procurement.
Direct contracts without competitive selection are allowed with the approval of the customer's management and the Atomic Energy Agency; separate grounds for them are the implementation of intergovernmental agreements and ratified international treaties, as well as a recommendation from an interdepartmental commission. A tender or a request for price quotations is considered valid even if only one bid meets the requirements; the contract is then signed on the bidder's terms within the allocated amount. Closed tenders, which are not publicly announced, are allowed when information about the purchase constitutes state secrets, restricted official information or another secret protected by law.
The rules give priority to Kazakh manufacturers: if goods are bought by tender or request for quotations and there are domestic producers of them, preference goes to those producers. The delivery period for a domestic manufacturer is at least 60 calendar days, and for complex, non-standard and critical products that need a special production cycle, design documentation or imported components, at least 120 days. The operator's ordinary expenses, such as administrative, household, office and transport costs, remain in the general public procurement system.
What it means: Construction of the first nuclear plant has been taken out of the general public procurement regime: the plant will have its own supplier register and its own procedures, which allow direct contracts and closed tenders, while domestic manufacturers get priority.
Who benefits: The rules give the plant operator and the agency more freedom in choosing contractors. Kazakh manufacturers get priority, but, as KazService points out, they first have to get onto the register of qualified nuclear plant suppliers: oil and gas experience alone does not guarantee admission, so the register will be the main filter for domestic companies.
Background: In early September Kazakhstan Nuclear Power Plants and Atomstroyexport, a subsidiary of Rosatom, signed a contract for the design, supply and construction of the Balkhash plant near the village of Ulken. Almasadam Satkaliyev put the cost of the project at about $16.4 billion; the main construction works are scheduled for 2027, and the first unit is due to start up in 2034. The draft national budget for 2027–2029 provides almost 818 billion tenge for contributions to the plant operator's capital.
List of sources used: BES.media, KazService
Artificial intelligence was used in preparing this material.
