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At the end of January, Samruk-Kazyna Construction JSC announced the signing of 208 EPC contracts with contractors (consortium leaders) for the construction and design of comfortable schools on a turnkey basis within the first phase of the National Project. You can find out how the competitive selection process was conducted, as well as the qualification requirements for potential suppliers in this material.

Samruk-Kazyna Construction held tender procedures for the design and turnkey construction of 208 schools on its electronic platform from March 31 to August 31, 2023. Due to the lengthy procedures for processing title documents and unpreparedness of land plots, the tender procedures were conducted in three stages:

• Stage 1 for 118 schools in April;
• Stage 2 for 57 schools in May-June;
• Stage 3 for 33 schools in July-August.

All requirements and principles of transparency were observed in organizing tender procedures for construction and design of comfortable schools. As part of the control, a commission of 45 people was established, which included 13 members of the tender commission, 21 members of the expert commission and 11 observers. The list of observers included members of public councils of the Ministry of Education, Samruk-Kazyna, Atameken and representatives of the akimats of Astana, Akmola and Karaganda regions. The observers were given direct access to the procurement portal skcn.qaz.network, which allowed them to enter at any time, download documents and check with the results of tender procedures. This allowed to eliminate corruption risks and ensure total control.

Potential contractors applied for participation both individually and as part of a Consortium of construction and design companies. A total of 87 tenders for construction and design of schools, as well as technical supervision services were held within the framework of the National Project, of which:

• 51 tenders for turnkey construction and design of 208 schools. 1,161 bids from 402 potential suppliers were considered;
• 36 tenders for engineering services on technical supervision of 112 schools. 798 applications from 153 potential suppliers were considered.

As a result of the past tenders, a total of 273 appeals and complaints were received. Of these, the arguments were confirmed only in 8 appeals, which is less than 3% of the total number of complaints received.

In order to select experienced and financially stable construction companies, high qualification requirements are set for potential suppliers during tenders. The national project emphasizes both the quality of construction and the reliability of developers. For this purpose, schools were divided into 3 categories:

• 1 category - 1500-2500 seats;
• 2 category - 600-1200 seats;
• 3 category - 300 places.

For category 1 schools, the contractor's experience should be at least 10 years, category 2 - 5 years, category 3 - 3 years, including the construction of social facilities. The total area of premises commissioned over the last 5 years was also taken into account. For category 1 it should be at least 75,000 m², category 2 - 35,000 m², category 3 - 25,000 m².

The absence of litigation, tax debts, as well as the availability of qualified specialists and special equipment was checked. The requirements are prescribed so that "one-day" firms or unscrupulous contractors could not pass the selection. In addition, the potential contractor provides a bank guarantee, which motivates him to fulfill the work in time, and also gives a guarantee of safety of budget funds, if the contractor turned out to be unscrupulous.

During the tender procedures there were appeals and comments to the qualification requirements from the industry associations and NPP "Atameken". All of them were taken into account. Several important changes were made to the qualification requirements. For example, the threshold of the minimum amount of taxes paid to receive a discount was lowered. Previously, a potential supplier had to pay taxes not less than KZT 500 mln annually for the last 5 years. Then he received a conditional discount of 1% for one year. As a result of the received appeals, the threshold was reduced to 300 million tenge. Also, when submitting tender documentation, in particular for material and labor resources, potential contractors were given the opportunity to provide preliminary contracts, contracts of intent, agreements and memoranda as confirmation. Previously, only valid contracts were required.

Conditional discounts of up to 10% are provided for companies providing the region where the schools to be built are located, as well as for each school previously built, total construction experience over the last 10 years, and the amount of taxes paid for each year.

The implementation of the national project will make it possible to solve the most important issues of the deficit of educational institutions and shortage of pupil places. It is planned to build 369 schools for 740 thousand pupils by 2025. By order of Samruk-Kazyna Construction JSC, 208 schools will be put into operation in 2024, the remaining 151 - in 2025. 10 schools will be realized by local executive bodies, of which 1 school by PPP method, and 9 schools by buying out the finished object as a commodity.

Receiving quality education in modern comfortable, technological, but most importantly - accessible conditions for each child, that is what is one of the key factors of sustainable development of Kazakhstan. Construction is carried out according to a single standard - 44% of comfortable schools will be built in rural areas.

Samruk-Kazyna Construction JSC will soon announce the start of new tender procedures for turnkey construction and design of 151 schools within the framework of the 2nd stage of the national project "Comfortable School".