One warrior in a share: The self-employed set their sights on government contracts
A new wave of small suppliers is entering the public procurement market. The number of self-employed people in the Unified Register of Participants in such procedures, where companies and citizens are registered to participate in auctions, has grown by almost a third over the year, now there are 35.6 thousand of them, according to data from the Ministry of Finance, which was analyzed by Izvestia. This is happening against the background of the development of electronic platforms, small-volume purchases and the opening of access to auctions for state-owned companies on SME terms. The influx of the self-employed is especially important against the background of weak competition: on average, there are only 2.5 applications per purchase. What contracts do the self—employed get and whether it helps to save the budget - in the Izvestia article.
Why are there more self-employed people in procurement
The number of self-employed people who register to participate in public procurement is growing rapidly. Their number has jumped by almost 30% in a year. In the first half of 2026, there were 35.6 thousand such participants, according to the Ministry of Finance.
Electronic platforms, the development of small-volume purchases and preferences for such suppliers contribute to the expansion of access to government orders. Since 2025, the self-employed have been granted the status of small businesses by participating in such contracts, which has given them access to appropriate support measures and special opportunities for SMEs, said Vasily Kutyin, Director of Analytics at Ingo Bank.
Despite the growth, only a small proportion of all self-employed people working in the country are currently involved in procurement. By the end of the first half of the year, their total number reached 16.9 million, while about 0.2% of this number is involved in public procurement, the financial adviser and founder of Rodin estimated.Capital Alexey Rodin.
What orders do they receive
The main market for the self—employed is small purchases of services, where the customer's specific qualifications are more important than having a large staff or production facilities. We are talking about programming, website development and maintenance, design, consulting, marketing, training, equipment repair and maintenance, logistics, photography and video shooting, translations and other specialized jobs, experts interviewed by Izvestia said.
A significant part of the demand relates to financial and insurance services. In the first quarter of 2026, they accounted for 3.83 billion rubles, or about two-thirds of the volume of purchases by the largest customers from the self-employed, Vasily Kutyin said.
At the same time, the self—employed can also supply goods of their own production, such as furniture, toys, clothing, jewelry, stationery and sporting goods. However, resale of products purchased from other manufacturers or suppliers is prohibited for NAP payers. Therefore, it is difficult for them to compete with large suppliers in mass commodity purchases, said Daniil Gonenko, Associate Professor of the Department of Economics and Finance of the Public Sector at the Presidential Academy.
The Professional Income Tax (NAP) is a special tax regime for the self—employed. They pay 4% of income from individuals and 6% from companies and sole proprietors. The regime does not require mandatory reporting and operates with an annual income of up to 2.4 million rubles.
A typical contract for such a supplier remains small. The self—employed are more likely to work in small—volume transactions - up to 600 thousand rubles - or in individual purchases "off the shelf", where the customer selects a product or service from already placed supplier offers, with an amount of up to 5 million rubles, said Vasily Kutyin.
As a result, the self-employed may close those tasks for which large companies have to maintain separate divisions or attract external contractors. For government and large corporate customers, this allows them to solve narrow tasks without expanding their staff, said Natalia Milchakova, a leading analyst at Freedom Global.
At the same time, the benefit for the customer lies not only in the lower price. A small contractor can quickly develop a separate software module, repair equipment, or perform specialized work, while a large supplier may not be economically interested in such a task, Daniil Gonenko noted.
Barriers to the self-employed
However, there are still many barriers for the self-employed. Registration in the registry does not mean that a person has become a permanent supplier to the state. The main limitation for expanding the participation of the self—employed is the income limit of 2.4 million rubles per year set for the NAP. After reaching it, it is impossible to continue working in the previous tax regime, which limits the size and number of contracts, the experts surveyed noted.
Therefore, to assess the sustainability of the trend, it is also important to look at, for example, the transition of the self-employed to the status of microenterprises and small companies, Daniil Gonenko added.
An additional barrier remains the inability to hire employees under employment contracts. A self-employed person can personally complete a small order, but it is difficult for them to accept a large contract that requires a permanent team.
The financial burden is also significant for small performers. Contract work sometimes has to be completed before payment is received, and the lack of sufficient working capital can make even a profitable order unavailable.
Difficulties also arise at the stage of participation in the purchase: the supplier needs to understand the documentation, the requirements for the application, the electronic signature and the order of execution of the contract. Vasily Kutyin added that even a small procedure can be difficult for a person entering the government procurement market for the first time.
At the same time, according to him, the risk of retraining the relationship with the self-employed into a labor one remains a problem for the customers themselves. If a person actually works as a full-time employee for a long time, for example, regularly performs the same function and obeys internal regulations, then the tax authorities may see signs of an employment relationship, which creates the risk of additional insurance premiums and taxes for the customer.
How does such a business affect competition
The increased participation of the self-employed in government contracts will help in the development of competition, experts say. Additional suppliers can reduce the risk that a purchase will not take place at all due to a lack of bids, as well as give the customer the opportunity to compare several offers. This effect is especially noticeable in small and specialized orders, said Ekaterina Kosareva, Managing Partner of the VMT Consulting agency.
On average, now there are only about two and a half applications per purchase, whereas 4-5 offers can be considered the optimal level, Alexey Rodin noted.
According to him, so far the growth in the number of self-employed has not radically changed the situation. Their share in the total volume of the purchasing market is at the level of about 3.6%, therefore, the impact on prices is still manifested mainly in small lots, said Yaroslav Kabakov, Director of Strategy at Finam IC.
The prospects for further growth depend primarily on maintaining the self-employment regime after 2028, reducing administrative barriers and developing digital procurement platforms, experts say.
If current conditions are maintained, the number of self-employed in public procurement will increase, says Yulia Kovalenko, Candidate of Economics and Deputy head of the Higher School of Economics of Moscow Plekhanov Russian University of Economics. In the future, their share among all procurement participants may grow to 5-10%, Alexey Rodin specified.
For further expansion, we also need clear rules for the transition to a larger business, small lots, fast payment and a digital history of contract execution, Daniil Gonenko believes.
The development of such mechanisms will make it possible to turn public procurement for the self-employed not just into an additional source of orders, but into a growth channel for small technology and service companies, experts say. The most promising niches may be the development of IT solutions, robotics, digital logistics, equipment maintenance and the industrial Internet of Things, where large companies create basic technologies, and small performers adapt them to specific customer tasks.
As a result, expanding the range of suppliers will help maintain competition in procurement, and customers, including the government, will receive a wider range of solutions and reduce the cost of performing specialized tasks.
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