Research · Updated: October 20, 2026 · 8 min read

Freight transport tenders in Uzbekistan: 43% fail, prices barely drop

Freight tenders in Uzbekistan look like a market for big logistics firms, until you look at the numbers. Between 1 September and 19 October 2026, customers published 106 best-offer selections for transport and logistics on etender.uzex.uz. Of the procedures that have closed, 43% failed, which under the law means that fewer than two eligible offers came in. And where a contract was signed, the price fell by less than 2.9% in half of the cases. Here is who orders transport, why the procedures fall through and how a small haulier can make money from it.

Data from Tanlo and etender.uzex.uz as of 20 October 2026. Methodology is at the end of the article.

What is moved under tenders

First, the market as a whole. On the two main platforms, etender.uzex.uz and xt-xarid.uz, there were 116 distinct lots for transport, storage and machinery with a driver over this period. Of these, 104 were priced in sums, worth a combined UZS 146.5 billion.

The median is the middle value: half of the lots are cheaper, half are more expensive.

More than 60% of the money sits in nine giant lots worth over UZS 5 billion each: distribution and storage of BYD cars, containers for the uranium miner Navoiyuran, delivery of high-speed electric trains from China. For a small company, something else matters more: 64 lots are worth less than UZS 500 million, and 19 of them less than UZS 100 million. These are jobs for one to three vehicles.

Who places the orders

• Road maintenance. The most frequent customers are district road maintenance enterprises (part of the Committee for Roads under the Ministry of Transport) and branches of the state road company Uzyulkuprik. They need 10–25-tonne dump trucks, truck cranes and loaders for road repairs in Romitan, Zafarabad, Konimekh, Pakhtakor, Khatyrchi and Nurata. A typical lot is worth UZS 100 million to UZS 1 billion, usually for a season or a year.
• Education departments. In September they bought delivery of coal and sand to schools and kindergartens for the autumn and winter season: 18 lots, half of them under UZS 100 million, for example UZS 13.4 million for coal for kindergartens in Zarafshan. The season is almost over, but lots are still appearing: the Davlatabad district of Namangan Region announced coal delivery worth UZS 99.2 million on 2 and 13 October.
• Industry. Uzbekneftegaz, Almalyk Mining and Metallurgical Complex, Navoiyuran, Tashkent Tractor Plant, Uzsungwoo (which carries components to the UzAuto Motors plant) and BYD Uzbekistan Factory. The lots are larger and the requirements stricter.
• Others. Uzbekistan Airways orders fuel transport, which counts as dangerous goods; the editorial office of the newspaper Khalq So'zi orders forwarding and delivery (UZS 2.1 billion); the Republican Perinatal Centre orders vehicles for patients.

Transport is a regional market. Of the 85 lots where a region is given, Tashkent city and Tashkent Region accounted for 16. Navoi Region, Karakalpakstan and Kashkadarya accounted for 41, almost half. Whoever has vehicles close to the site can quote a cheaper trip.

Why procedures fail

All 106 lots on etender.uzex.uz are best-offer selections (otbor / tanlov). This is not an auction: each participant submits a price and a document package once, the commission checks the documents and picks the best offer. If one offer or none has been submitted by the deadline, the selection is declared failed. It counts as successful only if at least two offers arrive from participants who meet the requirements (Article 61 of the Law on Public Procurement, ZRU-684). The customer then announces a new selection or buys by another method.

Statuses from the exchange's public lot pages as of 20 October:

That is why there are so many repeats: 67 of the 106 announcements are not a first attempt. In 37 cases the previous selection failed; in 30 the customer cancelled it and announced it again, most often to correct something. Some examples:

• A dump truck for the Mubarek Gas Processing Plant (Uzbekneftegaz, UZS 101 million for a year). This lot has been announced six times since late June. Five attempts failed; bidding on the sixth, from September, has closed, with no result yet.
• Fuel transport for Uzbekistan Airways (UZS 1.2 billion) is on its fourth round: the three previous selections failed. The current bid deadline is 21 October, 15:09 (Tashkent time).
• Trucks and special vehicles for the Mubarek oil and gas production division (UZS 2.29 billion). The last two selections, with deadlines of 12 and 19 October, failed. The customer warns that without a technical proposal and a full set of qualification documents a bid will not be admitted to price evaluation, missing documents will not be requested again, and no discount is requested on this portal. In other words, the price in your bid is final: put in the one you are prepared to work for from the start.
• Delivery of 250 tractor trailers from Chirchik to Mary (Turkmenistan) for Tashkent Tractor Plant, worth UZS 1.89 billion. The first selection failed; the second is open until 23 October, 09:30 (Tashkent time), and everything must be shipped by 1 November. Requirements: a licence for international transport, CMR insurance, a CMR consignment note for every truck, GPS tracking and at least 10 trucks running at the same time. The price is per trip including VAT; payment is made for completed trips.

The exchange does not publish the reasons for failure. But the announcements show what may be getting in the way. Bidders are most often given exactly 7 days, and in half of the announcements a week or less. A bid without a full document package is not considered. And not everyone has 10 trucks available at once, or a dump truck of the right capacity.

If you are the only participant

Since 1 January 2026 an exception has applied (Presidential Decree UP-259, para. 9(d)). Suppose one company took part in a selection, the customer announced a repeat procedure without changing the method or the criteria, and again only that company turned up. In that case the selection is declared successful. The rule does not apply if the participant fails to meet the legal requirements or has not prepared its offer in the prescribed form. The norm has not yet been written into the text of the Law on Public Procurement itself, so check with the platform how it is being applied.

Two practical conclusions follow. First, you need to take part at the first attempt: a company that turns up only for the repeat cannot use this rule. Second, nobody is going to haggle with you, so set a price at which you can sign the contract with confidence. A winner who refuses to sign the contract loses its deposit (zalog) and may end up on the Unified Register of Unscrupulous Contractors.

Few competitors, so prices barely fall

We checked 34 deals in sums from the open register on etender.uzex.uz (lots with bid deadlines up to 5 October). In half of them the contract price was less than 2.9% below the starting price. In 12 deals the reduction did not exceed 1%, and only in nine was it 10% or more. The winner often takes the lot at almost the customer's price.

A selection has no downward bidding as in an auction, so big discounts are not to be expected. But 2.9% together with 43% failed procedures suggests that bids are usually few. The register does not show the number of participants, so this is our estimate, not a count.

The market is not carved up. The 46 deals for lots with bid deadlines up to 14 October were won by 38 different companies, and none took more than three lots. Many of the winners are regional firms: Civil Road and Avtotrans XXV in Navoi Region, Road Trans Investment in Karakalpakstan. Two lots from the Uzyulkuprik branch in Kashkadarya, worth UZS 202.7 million each, were won by a sole proprietor.

What you need to take part

• Digital signature and registration. You cannot submit a bid without an E-IMZO digital signature, Uzbekistan's national electronic signature. What the signature key costs and what else you need to budget for before bidding is covered in our breakdown of the cost of bidding in public procurement.
• A licence, depending on the job. Domestic road haulage of goods does not require a licence: it is not on the list of licensed activities (Annex 1 to Law ZRU-701 on licensing). A Ministry of Transport licence is required for international road haulage of goods, and for rail freight, including domestic. Passenger transport by bus, minibus and car also requires a licence, issued by the Ministry of Transport of Karakalpakstan and the transport departments of the regions and Tashkent. Heavy and oversized loads need a permit from the Committee for Roads, and dangerous goods need a certificate from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Even where no licence is needed, the technical specification usually asks for documents on the vehicles and drivers, so read it before you bid.
• Sole proprietors are allowed, for freight. "Road haulage of goods" is on the list of activities permitted to sole proprietors (YaTT) (Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 6, para. 66), and an individual can also be a procurement participant. Passenger transport by car is not on that list. If you are not a VAT payer and the customer asks for a price including VAT, find out in advance how the offers will be compared.
• Standard qualification. The same requirements recur across lot pages: resources to perform the contract (vehicles, staff, money), legal capacity, no tax arrears and no bankruptcy, the company is not on the register of unscrupulous contractors, and there are no unenforced court decisions in the database of the Bureau of Compulsory Enforcement. Large customers add an anti-corruption statement and a declaration of no conflict of interest.
• Deposit. In a selection it cannot exceed 3% of the price (Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 276, para. 15). In 68 of the 106 lots the amount is stated, ranging from 0.5% to 3%. In eight lots the deposit is released only after the work is done, not after the contract is signed. How much you need to keep on the platform account in total is explained in "How much it costs to take part in public procurement".
• The advance depends on the customer. For contracts of budget organisations up to UZS 1 billion, Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 241 provides for 30% prepayment, with the exception of certain goods. That is what the data show: 30% is stated in 40 of 51 lots. State-owned companies offer no advance in 35 of 55 lots, and where they do, it is smaller. The Mubarek gas processing plant, for example, pays a 15% advance and the rest within 90 days. Check the draft contract.

For international trips: Uzbekistan has been a party to the CMR and TIR conventions since 1995. CMR governs the contract of carriage and the consignment note. Carrier liability insurance (CMR insurance) is something customers require on their own account.

Checklist before your first bid

1. Get a digital signature and register on the platform in advance, not on the day you spot a lot.
2. Pick a niche. Dump trucks and truck cranes for road works, coal delivery, containers, passengers: each has its own customers and documents.
3. Look in your own region. A trip from a neighbouring district is cheaper, and the customer cares how quickly you can get the vehicles on site.
4. Prepare the package in advance. Vehicle documents or lease agreements, driver details, a licence if one is needed, a certificate of no tax arrears. You will not manage this from scratch in 7 days.
5. Price per unit. The tractor plant, for example, asks for a price per trip including VAT, covering fuel, road tolls and border fees. Allow for downtime and the empty return leg. There will be no haggling after you submit.
6. Check the payment terms. A 30% advance from a budget customer and payment on completion from a state-owned company put very different pressure on your working capital.
7. Bid right away and watch for the repeat. If you did not win or missed the deadline, the same lot often comes back within days.

Fresh lots for transport, vehicles and spare parts are collected in the "Transport tenders" section (in Russian). In Tanlo you can save a search, for example "dump truck" in your region, and get new announcements in Telegram.

Methodology

On 20 October 2026 we exported from the Tanlo database the lots in the "Transport and vehicles → Freight and logistics" category published between 1 September and 19 October 2026 on etender.uzex.uz (the tenders and selections of xarid.uzex.uz) and xt-xarid.uz: 161 announcements. Twelve announcements that were not about transport (locomotive repairs, purchases of wagons, GPS trackers and the like) were excluded by hand. That left 149 announcements: 106 on etender.uzex.uz and 43 on xt-xarid.uz. For the market overview, announcements from the same customer with the same starting price published on different days were merged into a single lot, while identical lots published on the same day were counted separately. Statuses of the 106 etender.uzex.uz lots and links to previous attempts were taken from the exchange's public lot pages. Procedures with the statuses "protocol generated", "procedure failed" and "cancelled by the customer" were counted as closed. The price reduction was calculated from the open register of deals on etender.uzex.uz as of 19 October 2026, for deals in sums. Statuses and deals on xt-xarid.uz were not checked. Amounts are starting prices; lots in US dollars and euros are not included in the totals. The electronic shop and price requests were not included in the count.

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