Regional customers have not mastered the quota

As it became known to Kommersant, more than a thousand out of 9 thousand regional customers working under the law on procurement of state-owned companies (223-FZ) did not fulfill the established quota for purchases from small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in 2022. Since last year, we recall that the mandatory share of such purchases has been increased from 20% to 25%. Now, as a sanction, the purchases of such customers will fall under the more stringent provisions of the law on the contract system (44-FZ). The responsibilities of quota violators will be added to justify the purchase price, strictly regulated choice of the method for determining the supplier and the creation of a procurement commission. To return to 223-FZ, violators will have to fulfill the quota already under the terms of 44-FZ.

In addition to the increase in the quota, since 2022, the list of the largest federal and regional customers who are obliged to purchase from SMEs and are subject to monitoring by the SME Corporation and regional authorities has been sharply expanded from 1.9 thousand to 12 thousand. Due to this, in 2022, the White House recorded a record volume of purchases by state-owned companies from SMEs — 7 trillion rubles. against 4.4 trillion rubles. in 2021 (see Kommersant dated May 15).

Analysis of annual reports posted by customers in the Unified Procurement Information System showed that 204 regional customers failed to meet the quota. Another 850 did not post annual reports on purchases from SMEs on time (no later than February 1). At the same time, federal customers did not encounter such problems and met the new requirements in full, the SME Corporation reported.

Regional customers may not have had time to adapt to the tightening of requirements – approximately 80% of violations are related precisely to violations of the reporting procedure. However, according to a representative of the SME Corporation, explanatory work has been and continues to be carried out with customers throughout the year, and they have also been provided with methodological assistance. “We will strengthen our work with regional customers to comply with the government quota for purchases, since this sales market is extremely important for small and medium-sized businesses, it provides a stable channel for selling products. And it is important that all companies with state participation and regions understand the importance and consistency of such work,” says Alexander Isaevich, General Director of the SME Corporation.

Diana Galieva