Молодой учёный

336 Государство и право
«Молодой учёный» . № 5 (40) . Май, 2012 г.
– other specific laws, including Federal Law No. 213-FZ
dated 27 December 1995 ‘On the State Order for Defense’,
Federal Law No. 79-FZ dated 29 December 1994 ‘On State
Material Reserves’, Federal Law No. 60-FZ dated 13 December
1994 ‘On Supplies for Federal Government Needs’,
Federal Law No. 53-FZ dated 2 December 1994 ‘On the
Procurement and Delivery of Agricultural Goods, Raw Materials
and Commodities for State Needs’, which govern the
procurement of specific types of goods.
Within the framework of the Public Procurement Law and
in the cases specified therein, the president, the government
of the Russian Federation and the Ministry of Economic Development
of the Russian Federation, as an authorized government
body responsible for normative legal regulation of
public procurement, may all issue respective regulations.
The Public Procurement Law is enforced by the state arbitration
courts, which are part of the state court system in Russia
and deal with the resolution of economic disputes, and state
courts of general jurisdiction in disputes with the participation
of individuals.
Supervision over public procurement, except for control
over the state order for defense, is exercised at federal level
by the Federal Antimonopoly Service of the Russian Federation
(hereinafter the FAS), and at the level of the constituent
entities of the Russian Federation or the local municipal authorities
by the respective authorized supervisory agency. A
lawsuit challenging the validity of a decision issued by the
contracting authorities can be filed by a ‘participant in the
placement of an order’ (bidder) and the FAS or other authorized
supervisory agency.
In April 2011 the legislative authority of the Russian Federation
is considering amendments to the Public Procurement
Law related to the procedure for determining the initial
contracting price. If the proposed amendments are adopted,
all state (municipal) customers will be obliged to indicate in
the auction documentation the base for calculating the initial
price and the calculation itself. The initial price shall be
determined on the basis of publicly available sources (state
statistical information, market research, information from
previously concluded state (municipal) contracts, etc.). The
government of the Russian Federation will be entitled to establish
the methodology for calculating the initial price and
limits on the sources for calculating the price for some goods.
Additionally, as of February 2011 two further draft laws that
introduce amendments to the Public Procurement Law had
been developed by the FAS and by the Ministry of Economic
Development, respectively. The proposed amendments
drafted by the FAS focus on the following issues:
– Exclude the request for price quotations as a form for
placing orders. As an alternative a so-called ‘short auction’
form should be used, which should be completed within
seven days of the announcement date;
– Establish annual limits for all customers on consumer
goods such as cars, furniture etc. (especially, premium class
goods) as a way of reducing corruption in public administration;
– It is possible that the application of the breach of order
placement procedure (see question 36) will be subject to the
payment of state duty. Such applications should be filed online.
The amendments prepared by the Ministry of Economic
Development are still being elaborated, but should be made
publicly available in May 2011. Based on several interviews
with state officials, the Ministry of Economic Development of
the Russian Federation has drafted a completely new law that
will replace the existing Public Procurement Law.
From 1 January 2011 all state and municipal customers
are obliged to place all procurement orders for goods, work
and services specified by the government of the Russian
Federation in public e-auctions. The announcements of
all procurement orders for goods, work and services shall
be accumulated on one official website [4]. As at February
2011, 68 percent of all state and municipal customers are
registered on this website and place information about orders
here. In the meantime, eligible electronic trading platforms
(to conduct electronic auctions) have been selected
by the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian
Federation together with the FAS. As at January 2011 the
total number of active electronic trading sites has been reduced
to five [4, 5]. Due to the trend of enhancing transparency
and reducing corruption in the area of procurement,
administrative sanctions (the maximum amounts of fines
imposed on operators of e-auctions and state and municipal
customers) have been increased for various violations
of the Public Procurement Law. To participate in an electronic
auction, a supplier should be duly registered on the
appropriate electronic trading site (from the five mentioned
above). For registration purposes, the supplier should obtain
an electronic digital signature and receive accreditation
on the trading site. In practice these requirements can
be met either by a Russian legal entity or by the representative
office (or branch) of a foreign legal entity, and not by the
foreign legal entity itself.
Thus, today more than ever, the government must ensure
that it spends money wisely and eliminates waste and
abuse of taxpayer dollars. With more than one out of every
six dollars of Federal government spending going to contractors,
it is imperative that contract actions result in the best
value for the taxpayer. The Office of Federal Procurement
Policy (OFPP) in the Office of Management and Budget
plays a central role in shaping the policies and practices federal
agencies use to acquire the goods and services they need
to carry out their responsibilities.
As for USA, Federal procurement generally requires competitive
bidding on contracts which exceed a certain monetary
threshold. In these instances, a request for proposal
(RFP) is issued with specific guidelines, and bids are submitted
for review. The contract is generally given to the bidder
which can meet all of the required specifications at the lowest
price. Exemptions to this policy can occur in cases where only
one source of supply exists, or when one supplier has proven
to be far superior in performance to the others. In Canada,
the governmental body primarily responsible for federal pro-