Procurement in Uzbekistan: deposits, advances and contracts

Suppliers need funds for bid security and performance before payment. Electronic shops and auctions require a basic 3% deposit (para. 14 of Regulation No. 276), on different bases. Advances, payment deadlines and performance security depend on procurement terms and applicable law: the Public Procurement Law, Regulation No. 276, presidential acts and business-contract legislation.

In brief:

• The shop deposit is 3% of the offer value; the auction deposit is 3% of the starting price. A budget customer does not pay a deposit (para. 8 of Regulation No. 276).
• Deposits are capped at 3% for selections, 5% for tenders (para. 15 of Regulation No. 276); the procurement commission decides whether a deposit is required and its amount.
• An electronic shop requires an additional deposit when the price falls by 20% or more (para. 43 of Regulation No. 276). Auctions have the same trigger (para. 54).
• A selection contract must be signed within 10 working days (para. 103 of Regulation No. 276). A tender has the same deadline (para. 161).
• Security refunds and payment for delivery are separate receipts: the deposit is released by the operator, the price is paid by the customer.
• The operator publishes a commission of 0.15% of the contract value for the shop and auctions, paid by both sides; in the cards we screened in September 2026 the pledge was 1–3% of the start price, the advance 0–30% and payment 10–30 days after acceptance.

Updated: 07 September 2026

Money before the bid

Participation security and an advance to the supplier serve different purposes. In Regulation No. 276, an “advance payment” means money deposited in the settlement and clearing chamber (SCC), comprising the operator's fee and deposit (para. 2). Funding the account with the operator covers the fee and the deposit; an advance under the future contract is a separate payment from the customer.

Bid security supports the participant's obligations in the procurement procedure. Performance security relates to the future contract: for example, selection documents may make contract conclusion conditional on providing performance security first (Art. 63 of the Public Procurement Law, hereafter the Law). These amounts may be needed at different stages.

Collateral and commission on the shop and the auctions

The initial deposit and its calculation base depend on the procedure:

A corporate customer and a participant transfer the fee and deposit to the SCC (para. 8 of Regulation No. 276), except where the commission has not required a deposit. A budget customer transfers only the fee: participation does not require it to deposit security with the SCC. This distinction also affects the consequences of a customer's failure to pay.

The authorised body sets the fee rate (para. 16 of Regulation No. 276), which is uniform across operators. UzEx publishes the current rate for the shop and auctions as 0.15% of the contract value, charged to the customer and the supplier alike. After procurement, the fee is deducted from the customer's and participant's advance payments based on the actual transaction value (para. 36). In a cash-flow plan, the fee is an expense, while a refundable deposit is money temporarily tied up.

Pledges in selections and tenders

The Law permits bid security through a pledge, guarantee or deposit (Art. 39 of the Law), or another method provided by legislation. The requirement applies to all participants and must appear in the procurement terms. The procurement terms name the form accepted for that lot; a different form from the Law's list is accepted only where the terms say so.

Before submitting its offer, a participant may request confirmation that its proposed security is acceptable. The customer's general response period is 2 working days (Art. 39 of the Law). The financing calculation separately records the security amount, validity period, release event and any performance security. When bidding on several lots at once, funding needs are the sum of the amounts that will be blocked simultaneously.

For security-acceptability requests through the open electronic chat, Regulation No. 276 specifies a shorter response period: 1 working day for a selection (para. 87), and 1 working day for a tender (para. 142). The one-day deadline applies to confirmation of security; other clarifications follow the two-day rule.

Account preparation and the bid itself are covered in the article on supplier registration. It is relevant before first participation; this article covers the money and obligations for a chosen lot. Non-resident participation and the choice of a local company are addressed in the article on foreign companies in public procurement.

Additional deposit when reducing the price

In the shop, an additional deposit must be paid in advance if the bid is 20% or more below (para. 43 of Regulation No. 276) the offer selected by the customer. In an auction, the comparison is with the starting price (para. 54). The additional deposit equals the price difference, subject to a cap. Without it, the system rejects the relevant bid.

The site calculates the soum amounts below using one BRV, the base calculation unit.

Example. Assume an auction starting price of 1 billion soums and a bid of 800 million soums. The reduction is (1,000 − 800) / 1,000 × 100 = 20%. The basic deposit is 1 billion × 3% = 30 million soums. The price difference is 200 million soums, but the base is below 1.100.000.000 soums, so the additional deposit is capped at 44.000.000 soums. These amounts are added together; the fee is separate.

Manufacturers with a “high” or “medium” sustainability rating receive a 50% fee discount and pay no additional deposit (para. 3 of PP-417). The exemption covers the additional deposit; the basic 3% deposit still applies. At the operator's published rate of 0.15%, the fee on a 1 billion soum contract is 1.5 million soums, and 750,000 soums with the discount.

When the deposit is returned

The blocking period depends on the procedure and the participant's role. An auction participant's deposit is blocked until a lower bid is submitted by another participant (para. 13 of Regulation No. 276). Shop participants' deposits are blocked until the winner is determined. The supplier's and corporate customer's deposits in a shop or auction remain blocked until full performance or termination through the prescribed procedure.

In a selection or tender, the operator generally releases the supplier's deposit within 1 working day after contract conclusion (para. 32 of Regulation No. 276). If the documents require it to remain blocked until full performance or termination, that condition applies. Where the documents keep it blocked, the money is released on performance, not on signing.

Separately, the Law requires the security document to be returned within 1 working day (Art. 39 of the Law) after one of these events:

• the bid security expires;
• the contract takes effect and performance security is provided, if required;
• the procurement is cancelled;
• the offer is withdrawn before the submission deadline.

The one-day rule runs from one of those four events, not from the award. At the participant's instruction, released funds may be used for other procurements or returned to its account with its servicing bank (para. 37 of Regulation No. 276). Release within the SCC and receipt in a bank account are separate cash-flow events.

Advance, delivery and payment

The advance, delivery deadline and final-payment deadline must be read together. For a budget customer's selection or tender, advance-payment terms are set out in the contract (para. 23 of Regulation No. 276); payments are made without using SCC accounts. Each lot's advance is set in its own contract.

What the cards actually say

The calculation needs consistent information from the procurement documents, offer and draft contract: the advance amount, its payment trigger, performance security, delivery schedule, acceptance confirmation and final-payment date. A selection contract is generated on the documents' and offer's terms (Art. 63 of the Law). If the listing and attachments conflict, the participant may obtain clarification; the general response period is 2 working days (Art. 41 of the Law).

The advance percentage and the date the money arrives both matter to the supplier. Performance security, if required, is accounted for separately from bid security. In the cards we screened in September 2026 the advance was 30% in consulting and IT lots, 15% in equipment lots and absent in services paid on completion; delivery periods ran from 30 to 180 days and payment from 10 to 30 days after acceptance, in one lot 20 banking days after completion. Each contract sets its own figures within those ranges.

Payments in the shop and auctions

A corporate customer transfers the full payment to its SCC account within 10 working days after the contract is registered in the electronic system (para. 24 of Regulation No. 276). Its deposit may be credited towards that amount. This deadline funds the SCC account; the supplier is paid after acceptance is confirmed, as described below.

The SCC blocks the money received and notifies the supplier (para. 26 of Regulation No. 276) no later than the following working day. The notification is the basis for delivery. If delivery takes place earlier, the supplier bears the non-payment risk (para. 27). The contract date, funding notification and contractual delivery deadline must be tracked separately.

Acceptance, invoices and VAT

For shop and auction payments the trigger is the customer's confirmation of acceptance. A corporate customer must notify the operator of full acceptance within 3 working days (para. 28 of Regulation No. 276). Within the same period, a budget customer records acceptance in the PFMIS, the public financial management information system (para. 29).

The PFMIS sends the budget customer's acceptance information to the operator within 1 working day (para. 30 of Regulation No. 276). After receiving full-performance information, the operator has 1 working day (para. 31) to:

• send a payment instruction to the PFMIS or servicing bank; payment to the supplier is made within the following working day after receipt of that instruction;
• release the supplier's deposit and return it to the relevant account;
• release the corporate customer's deposit, except any amount credited towards payment;
• publish the contract-performance information.

Manufacturers are entitled to payment proportionate to goods delivered in shops and auctions (para. 2 of PP-417). For manufacturers, payment therefore follows each accepted delivery rather than the last one.

The cash-flow plan separately records delivery, the acceptance document, invoice issuance where required and receipt in the bank account. Terms referring to prices inclusive or exclusive of value added tax (VAT) are checked before calculating the margin. A selection or tender contract carries its own payment deadline.

Tax treatment of a supply is covered in the articles on VAT and invoices. They help check the tax component of the price and the documentation; this article addresses how acceptance relates to receipt of procurement payments.

The contract

Electronic signing gives the contract its form; registration in the Unified Register of Contracts makes it payable. A contract signed through the system with an electronic digital signature (EDS) is regarded as concluded in the proper form (para. 9 of Regulation No. 276).

Signing and what governs

A selection contract is concluded within 10 working days after the winner is determined (para. 103 of Regulation No. 276); a tender has the same deadline (para. 161). Its terms come from the procurement documents and winning offer. For a tender, information about the concluded contract must be published on the special portal within 5 working days (Art. 70 of the Law).

A budget customer's contract is automatically registered or recorded in the PFMIS within 1 working day after information about its conclusion is received (para. 23 of Regulation No. 276). For a shop or auction, transfer of the contract amount to the SCC is also provided for. Contracts absent from the Unified Register of Contracts cannot be paid (Art. 47 of the Law). The register also records amendments, performance and termination.

Changes, penalties and warranty

An addendum may change only what the Law and Regulation No. 276 allow. It is permitted if it preserves the material terms (Art. 34 of the Law), except in cases provided by legislation. Regulation No. 276 separately restricts amendments (para. 215) involving:

• a change to the contract subject;
• changes to quality and assortment;
• increases in the quantity and price of goods;
• extension of the delivery period, except for force majeure;
• an increase in the value of additional works or services exceeding 10% of the original total contract amount.

The 10% limit applies to additional works or services that have a lawful basis of their own. For an assumed contract value of 1 billion soums, the arithmetic limit under this rule is 100 million soums.

Goods must generally be new unless the procurement description provides otherwise. For machinery and equipment, the documents set warranty-period requirements (Art. 34 of the Law) and/or the scope of quality warranties, warranty service, servicing costs during the warranty period, and installation and commissioning if required by the technical documentation. New machinery and equipment additionally require a manufacturer's and/or supplier's warranty with a specified validity period, provided together with the goods. The warranty period itself is set in each lot's documents; in the equipment lots we screened it was 36 months.

Penalties for delivery and payment breaches

Liability is not limited to the blocked deposit. The Law on the Contractual and Legal Framework for Business Entities establishes the measures below, applicable unless otherwise provided (Art. 24) by legislation or the contract. The table presents some of the consequences relevant to delivery and payment.

Example. Applying these rates, delivery of goods worth 200 million soums delayed by 10 days gives a penalty of 200 million × 0.5% × 10 = 10 million soums. Payment of a 200 million soum debt delayed by the same period gives 200 million × 0.4% × 10 = 8 million soums. The penalty for an unjustified refusal to pay that amount is 30 million soums; for non-conforming goods of the same value, it is 40 million soums. For one failure to provide shipment documents for goods worth 200 million soums, the penalty is 200 million × 1% = 2 million soums. Each penalty attaches to its own breach.

For non-conforming goods, the payment demand to debit the penalty must reach the bank within 10 days (Art. 26) after the report recording improper quality, assortment or grade. Missing that deadline means recovery follows the prescribed procedure. A late-delivery penalty does not remove damages liability (Art. 25).

When things go wrong

Choosing a remedy starts with identifying the problem: missing funding, an acceptance dispute, a procurement-procedure breach or the winner's refusal to sign.

The customer does not pay or does not accept

If a corporate customer fails to pay by the contractual deadline in a shop or auction, its deposit is transferred to the supplier within 1 working day (para. 25 of Regulation No. 276). Budget customers pay no deposit, so for them the remedy is the claim and court route below.

If performance information is missing after the delivery deadline, after 3 working days (para. 34 of Regulation No. 276) the SCC blocks the budget customer's funds and the corporate customer's and supplier's deposits pending the prescribed decision or termination. The corporate customer's funds above the deposit are released, and non-performance information is forwarded as prescribed. Disputed deposits are released or transferred by court or commission decision (para. 35); a court decision must have entered into legal force.

A written demand sets out the information and claims (Art. 17 of the business-contract law): the parties; date and reference number; circumstances; evidence; the claimant's demands; amount and calculation, payment and postal details; and list of attachments. The head of the entity or their deputy signs it, and dispatch or delivery is documented. A response is due within fifteen days (Art. 18) of receipt.

Disputes over performance, amendment, termination and damages are heard by the economic court (Art. 36 of the business-contract law), or by an arbitration tribunal where the contract or the parties' agreement so provides.

Preparing procedural documents is covered in the article on filing an economic court claim. It is relevant when a debt or performance dispute moves to court; this article explains procurement-related grounds for blocking money and contractual consequences.

Complaints about the procedure

A participant may challenge acts or omissions (Art. 78 of the Law) of the customer, procurement commission, its members or the operator that violate its rights, before the Commission for the Consideration of Complaints in Public Procurement or a court. The Commission notifies the customer within 3 working days (Art. 79) of receiving the complaint and suspends the procedure for up to 10 working days in total; a decision must be made within 7 working days of receipt.

If a complaint is justified, the Commission may take the following measures (Art. 79 of the Law): prohibit the customer's unlawful actions, decisions or procedures; cancel its unlawful decisions wholly or partly; end the procurement procedure; or enter the supplier in the Unified Register of Unfair Performers. Its decision binds procurement participants and may be challenged in court. A complaint concerns the procedure; a contractual debt is recovered through the court route above.

The register of unfair performers

Entry in the register is possible on four grounds (Art. 48 of the Law):

• the winner refuses or otherwise evades a contract on the terms of the procurement award;
• the supplier is found at fault through the prescribed procedure for non-performance or improper performance, except in cases of force majeure;
• a participant submits false or forged documents, fails to disclose affiliated persons participating in the same lot, or fails to disclose a conflict of interest;
• a supplier is convicted by a court of offences involving fraud, falsification or corruption.

The participation ban lasts 2 years (Art. 48 of the Law); the supplier is then considered removed. Entry may be challenged in court. Entry for non-performance requires a finding of fault through the prescribed procedure, not only the customer's allegation.

If a tender winner refuses the contract, its deposit is not refunded (Art. 70 of the Law). The reserve winner is offered the winner's price, unless its own price is lower; the reserve winner may decline. A similar transfer of the right to conclude the contract applies to selections (Art. 63 of the Law). The winner's position therefore differs from that of the reserve participant.

What changed in 2025–2026

The following effective changes matter when planning payment and acceptance:

• From 1 January 2026, UP-259 dated 26 December 2025 permits advances under budget customers' contracts with domestic manufacturers whose localisation level is at least 30%. The advance is proportionate to localisation, no lower than the achieved localisation level and no greater than the enterprise's total assets. The permission covers that category of producers.
• From 1 January 2026, UP-259 dated 26 December 2025 sets a minimum goods-delivery period of 5 days. Payment timing is still set by the contract.
• From 1 July 2026, UP-259 dated 26 December 2025 provides for powers of attorney for persons accepting goods, works and services to be issued electronically through the public procurement system.

Example. For an assumed contract price of 1 billion soums and localisation of 40%, a proportionate advance is 400 million soums. If the manufacturer's assets are 600 million soums, that amount is within the asset limit. This illustrates the calculation where the special permission applies; the contract records the particular payment arrangements.

The cash plan

Working-capital needs equal expenses plus amounts blocked at the same time, less payments already received. The example below is a selection or tender with terms typical of the cards we screened.

Example. The price and deposit calculation base are 1 billion soums. Assume the documents require a 3% deposit blocked until performance, a 15% advance, delivery by day 45 and final payment 30 days after acceptance. An assumed fee of 1.5 million soums is included. The dates and expenses are assumptions of the example.

Peak funding needed from the supplier's own or borrowed money is 30 + 1.5 + 850 − 150 = 731.5 million soums. Blocking does not turn the deposit into an expense, but until release those funds cannot be used to purchase the next batch.

If acceptance moves back by 30 days and payment is tied to it, financing will be needed for another 30 days. If all the assumed 850 million soum costs depend on foreign currency and their soum cost rises by 10%, the additional expense is 85 million soums, or 8.5% of the contract price. Loan interest or factoring costs, if used, are added according to the relevant financing terms. Local factoring products finance a confirmed receivable after delivery; purchases before shipment need a credit line or supplier credit.

Frequently asked questions

How much money do I need to bid on a public tender in Uzbekistan?

You need bid security, the operator's fee and funds to perform before payment. The basic deposit in a shop or auction is 3% (para. 14 of Regulation No. 276), but the calculation bases differ. Additional deposits, performance security and delayed receipts can increase the funding need. In the cash plan above it is 731.5 million soums for a 1 billion soum contract; with a 30% advance it falls to about 580 million soums.

Is a bank guarantee accepted instead of the cash pledge?

The Law permits several forms of security (Art. 39 of the Law), including a guarantee, but the particular procurement terms must be checked before submitting an offer. A participant can request confirmation that the proposed security is acceptable; the customer's general response period is 2 working days. In the open electronic chat, this is shortened to 1 working day for selections (para. 87 of Regulation No. 276) and for tenders (para. 142). A guarantee costs a bank fee; a cash deposit ties up the whole amount. Several cards we screened in September 2026 stated that a guarantee was not accepted for the participation security.

When does the supplier get the collateral back?

For a selection or tender, the rule is release within 1 working day after contract conclusion (para. 32 of Regulation No. 276), unless the documents keep it blocked until performance or termination. In a shop or auction, the supplier's deposit is tied to contract performance. Release in the SCC, withdrawal to the bank account and payment for the goods are separate operations, each with its own date in the cash-flow plan.

What is the payment period under a public contract?

The period depends on the procedure. A corporate customer in a shop or auction has 10 working days after contract registration to transfer funds to the SCC (para. 24 of Regulation No. 276). The supplier is paid after acceptance is reported. In a selection or tender, payment terms and deadlines come from the contract; the supplier's financing period runs until money is actually received.

Can the price be changed after the award?

An addendum cannot be used to revise the award at will. The Law allows one if it preserves the contract's material terms (Art. 34 of the Law), subject to statutory exceptions. The limit for additional works and services does not itself permit an increase in the price of goods. Currency movements and higher purchase costs are the supplier's risk and are priced into the bid.

What can I do if the customer's criteria were written for one supplier?

A participant may challenge customer actions that violate its rights before the commission or court (Art. 78 of the Law). The complaint compares the disputed requirement, its effect on participation and the procurement documents. A procurement complaint concerns the legality of the procedure; a demand for payment under a performed contract has its own contractual basis. Keep delivery, acceptance and payment records in any case: they are the evidence for a payment claim.