Explainer · Updated: October 3, 2026 · 8 min read

A UZS 100 m tender: how much cash you really need to bid

Registering on Uzbekistan's public procurement platform costs nothing. But a single UZS 100 m offer requires you to lock up about UZS 3 m in your account. Win the contract and fail to deliver, and that money is gone — and your company is barred from public procurement for two years.

The market is vast: according to Tanlo data as of 3 October 2026, 17,798 procurements worth about UZS 3.3 trn are open across six platforms. Yet every supplier enters each one with its own money on the line. Drawing on official documents, we break down what it costs to take part in 2026, where your money gets frozen, where it can be lost, and how much cash you need on hand in total.

In brief: what one deal requires

The base amount: the number everything hangs on

Almost every sum in Uzbek public procurement is expressed in base calculation amounts (BRV, from the Russian «БРВ») — a government-set indexation unit. From 1 September 2026 the BRV stands at UZS 440,000 (previously UZS 412,000). It determines the price of a digital signature key, the caps on the additional deposit and which procedure a purchase must follow.

In short, goods worth up to UZS 11 bn are bought through the electronic shop (e-shop, a catalogue-style marketplace for routine purchases), a reverse auction (bidders compete by lowering the price) or a selection of the best offers (a simplified competition weighing price and other criteria), while works and services up to UZS 44 m go through the e-shop. Works and services cannot be bought at auction at all: the law expressly forbids it. The thresholds for the main procedures have not changed in the law since 2021 (the simplified low-value purchase was introduced on 1 March 2025), but the rising BRV has shifted them in som terms:

A budget customer is an organisation funded from the state budget: a ministry, a hokimiyat (local administration), a school, a hospital. A corporate customer is a state-owned enterprise or a company with a state stake. For how the procedures differ in substance, see our separate explainer.

Cost No. 1: the digital signature key

Without an E-IMZO electronic digital signature — Uzbekistan's national e-signature system — you cannot sign an offer (on the exchange it is called an "oferta"). A certificate for a legal entity costs 10% of the BRV — currently UZS 44,000; for an individual it is 7% of the BRV, or UZS 30,800. It is valid for up to 24 months. Registration itself on xarid.uzex.uz — the main state e-procurement platform, run by the Uzbek Republican Commodity Exchange (UzEx) — via openid.uzex.uz is free and has no expiry.

Cost No. 2: the deposit — money frozen, not spent

Top up your personal account before you bid: when you submit an offer, an "advance payment" — the deposit plus the commission — is blocked on it. If the balance falls short, the offer will not go through.

• E-shop — 3% of your offer amount.
• Auction — 3% of the lot's starting price.
• Selection of the best offers — no more than 3%; tender — no more than 5%. Whether a deposit is required at all is up to the procurement commission. Instead of a deposit, the customer may accept a pledge or a bank guarantee: your working capital stays free, but the bank will charge a fee for the guarantee.
• If you win in the e-shop or at auction, the deposit stays blocked until the contract is performed and delivery is confirmed. In a selection or tender it is released within one working day of the contract being signed, unless the procurement documentation requires it to be held longer.

Cost No. 3: the operator's commission — the least transparent line

The commission is set by the authorised body; it is the same for all operators and is calculated on the actual deal amount. We could not find a specific figure in publicly available regulations. UzEx's Q&A section gives 0.15% (the exchange's own example: on a starting price of UZS 100,000 — UZS 150), while a separate tariff page lists 0.05% from each side.

What to do: budget 0.15% — on a UZS 100 m deal that is UZS 150,000. These figures apply to xarid.uzex.uz; other platforms, such as Hayot Birja (xt-xarid.uz), have their own tariffs — check them separately.

A presidential resolution of 3 December 2024 approved a 50% discount on the commission and an exemption from the additional deposit for manufacturers with a high or medium sustainability rating (assigned following an assessment of a company's reliability). If you are a manufacturer, check your rating.

What you don't need to pay for: participation "packages"

People often search for how to "buy a package" on an electronic platform. You do not need one to take part in public procurement on xarid.uzex.uz: registration is free, and you pay only the deposit and commission on a specific deal. Some individual platforms and services do have paid plans — before paying, find out exactly what you are buying and whether it is available free on the official platform.

Cost No. 4: waiting to be paid

• E-shop and auction. For a budget customer, the Ministry of Finance transfers the money to the treasury within one working day; a corporate customer deposits 100% within 10 working days. Ship only after you are notified that the funds have arrived: ship earlier and the risk of non-payment is yours.
• After the goods are accepted, the customer has up to 3 working days to confirm acceptance in the system. The operator then generates the payment within one working day, and the money reaches your account within another working day (for budget customers, a day is added to pass the data to the treasury). In total, the rules allow up to 5–6 working days after acceptance; in practice it can take longer.
• Selection and tender. Prepayment terms are set out in the contract. For budget customers, the Budget Code provides for a 15% prepayment, rising to 30% for contracts up to UZS 1 bn (except for a separate list of goods).

If a corporate customer fails to pay on time, its deposit (3%) passes to you. But that is compensation, not payment under the contract — so do not ship until the money has arrived.

What changed in 2026

• Single-bidder auctions. Under a presidential decree of 26 December 2025, from 1 January 2026 an auction with one participant is deemed to have taken place. But the law and the procurement regulation, in their published versions, still say the opposite — check the terms in the lot notice.
• Offer validity in the e-shop has been extended under the same decree from 15 to 60 days, with a minimum delivery period of 5 days.
• AI checks prices. Since 1 March 2026 a module has been determining the average market price. If a procurement price deviates from it by more than 10%, the purchase is flagged as high-risk and falls under review by the supervisory authorities. Inflating prices is a poor strategy.
• Local manufacturers. A price preference of up to 15% of the price of an imported equivalent has applied in tender evaluation since 2021; its terms were clarified from 1 July 2026. In selections and tenders, local manufacturers also earn extra points in proportion to their level of localisation — provided their price exceeds the lowest one by no more than 15%.

Checklist before your first bid

1. A digital signature key for the company — UZS 44,000 for two years.
2. Cash for deposits: 3% of each offer (up to 5% in tenders) × the number of bids running at once.
3. Operator's commission: a benchmark of 0.15% of the deal amount.
4. Working capital for the goods — at least for the delivery period, acceptance and 5–6 working days to get paid.
5. A reserve for the additional deposit if you plan to cut the price by 20% or more.
6. Confidence that you can deliver: walking away from a win costs you the deposit and two years out of public procurement.

The most expensive hidden cost is not the commission but time. Suppliers who learn about a lot on its final day either run out of time to prepare or submit an offer without doing the maths. Rather than checking six platforms by hand, set up a saved search in Tanlo: new lots in your field arrive in Telegram as soon as they are published — leaving you time to work out calmly whether the lot is worth the effort.

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