The central theme of the Goszakaz 2013 Forum and Exposition was the contract purchases system. The draft law On the Contract System for Purchasing Commodities, Works and Services for State and Municipal Needs developed by the Ministry of Economic Development was approved by the Federation Council on March 27, 2013.
In his opening speech at the forum, Minister of Economic Development Andrei Belousov said that the contract system will offer new opportunities and create new demands for state procurement – from planning to placement. According to Mr Belousov, the Government will strictly control the execution of state contracts, both suppliers and contractors.
At present, about 39% of state purchases (2.8 trillion roubles annually) are made through a single supplier, which precludes competition. In this respect, he said that the new system restricts the possibilities for manipulating prices at the purchasing stage. In some cases, the law includes the possibility of pre-qualification tests to prevent incompetent companies from participating in a tender. The law also introduces antidumping procedures, he said.
According to Mr Belousov, the new state procurement system’s success will largely depend on the adoption of regulatory acts related to the law on the contract system. The Government will have to approve over 60 regulatory acts, including 38 in 2013.
Source: Ministry of Economic Development
