Kyrgyzstan: US Military Tries to Boost Local Participation in Defense Contracting Process

Kyrgyz firms are being invited to take advantage of commercial opportunities connected with the presence of an American transit center outside Bishkek. From the American military perspective, it's a win-win situation if Kyrgyz companies get more involved in the procurement process: the Defense Department generates local goodwill that can improve the operation of the Northern Distribution Network, while the local economy stands to receive a financial boost.

A vendor fair held recently in Bishkek sought to familiarize Kyrgyz entrepreneurs with the often complex US procurement and contracting standards. The aim was to enhance the ability of Kyrgyz businesses to win $23 million-worth of military contracts available in Kyrgyzstan, said Capt. Duke Santos, the director of contracting at the Manas Transit Center.

"Our goal at the Transit Center is to increase our current vendor group. At the conference, 152 different companies were represented. That representation potentially increases our amount of vendors by 500 percent," Santos said. "Our desire is to promote competition by educating the local contractors to be successful in winning US government contracts, resulting in boosting the Kyrgyz economy."

The vendor event sought to counter local misgivings about some of the larger contracts at Manas Transit Center that have gone to Turkish, not Kyrgyz, companies. "The United States wants to contract with Kyrgyz companies to the maximum amount possible. In 2008, Kyrgyz companies won 40 percent of the contracts at Manas, this year that figure is 43 percent out of $23 million. Our goal is to increase that amount even more," Santos said.

Col. Thomas Joyce, the 376th Expeditionary Mission Support Group commander, said Kyrgyz companies should consider opportunities beyond Manas too. "The potential exists to send Kyrgyz goods not only to the Transit Center but to Afghanistan and other countries of Central and South Asia," he said.

To raise awareness among Kyrgyz entrepreneurs, the US military is working with local Kyrgyz partners on a marketing campaign. The centerpiece of this effort is the publication of advertisements about contracting opportunities in national newspapers in both the Russian and Kyrgyz languages.

During the day-long vendor fair on October 14, experts from Manas outlined the procedures of participating in US government tenders. Lt. Col. Brandon Halstead, 376th Air Expeditionary Wing staff judge advocate, told some 230 representatives from over 150 Kyrgyz companies, that important professional norms needed to be observed.

"Gift giving" - even if it is an expression of genuine generosity - needs to be avoided in case the practice is misconstrued as an attempt to influence the outcome of the procurement process," Lt. Col. Halstead said. "The general policy is that if it looks bad, it probably is bad [and gifts are] prohibited under US government rules."

"When we are presented with a gift-giving scenario we could get into trouble. The scenario makes US government employees a little nervous," he continued.

Santos described the event as "an absolute success," adding that it was an important step in his mission to increase the number of Kyrgyz companies with contracts, large and small, at Manas.