State companies are obliged to increase purchase rate of the small business

In December 2013 the Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev has enacted the list of decision documents for Russian representatives in the Board of Directors of companies with state participation and which procurement activities fall within the scope of the federal law regulating the state procurement. The approved rules were developed by the Ministry of Economy and Development and extend on all individuals, including state officials and international experts promoting interests of the state in Supervisory Boards of Open Joint-Stock companies with state share of more than 50%.

In accordance with passed amendments, members of Supervisory Boards of state corporations-customers are now obliged not only to outsource the representatives of small and medium businesses for the purchase audit but also to be promotive of their efficient participation in tenders. First of all, customers should return the charge to procurement participants of small and medium businesses for tender security for the period of no more than one week. Secondly, they should sign a contract with the winner of the tender during 20 days. And thirdly, they should pay for contactor’s work within 10 days from the date of signing of all the necessary documents. Besides, the representatives of the small and medium business will be entitled the right to choose between bank guarantee and cash security for the charge payment for tender security.

However, both representatives of state corporations and of the small business are not pleased with current developments. According to experts, the main problem for the moment is non-transparency of the state contracts. Thus, as for calculations of the experts of the National Association of Purchasing Institutes, out of more than 200 tenders with a total cost of 0.5 trillion rubles, a minority may be considered fully transparent. In most of cases the difference between the state contract maximal price and “competitive” offering is less than 1%. Experts see the reason to this in orientation of the tender documentation for the specific supplier. At the same time, 57% of state contacts are concluded with the singular supplier.

The main goal of the proposed developments is to increase the purchase rate that is accounted for by the representatives of the small and medium business. The Prime Minister states that for the moment the specific weight of the small and medium businesses in these purchases amounts to 10%. That doesn’t show its role in country’s economy. In accordance with the orienting points containing in the «roadmap», by 2018 its share in the purchasing structure must be amounted to minimum 25% and direct purchasing share (without any middlemen) must increase from 2 to 10%. According to Dmitry Medvedev, corresponding measures allow to make the purchasing system of the largest companies more transparent.