TRANSPARENCY, SINGLE BIDDING, AND BUDGET SAVINGS IN PUBLIC PROCUREMENT: EVIDENCE FROM UZBEKISTAN

This study examines which institutional and market factors are associated with budget savings in public procurement across the regions of Uzbekistan. A balanced regional framework was constructed for 14 territorial units over 2019–2024, yielding 84 region-year observations. The dependent variable is the budget-saving rate, measured as the percentage difference between planned and contracted procurement expenditure. Eight explanatory variables capture electronic procurement, participation by small and medium-sized enterprises, publication openness, bidder intensity, single-bid contracting, procurement-cycle duration, staff qualification, and the use of framework agreements. A regional fixedeffects model is estimated to isolate within-country variation while controlling for time-invariant regional characteristics.