The authorities will refuse to create an information system for monitoring the state defense order

The Government Commission for Legislative Activities has approved the refusal to create an information and analytical system of state defense orders (IAS GOZ). We are talking about a system for collecting and comparing data on prices for homogeneous commodity items when purchasing under the State Defense Order. The creation of the system was provided for by a government bill, which the State Duma approved in the first reading on October 22, 2020. The current amendments for the second reading were developed by the Federal Antimonopoly Service (Vedomosti has the document). According to the conclusion of the Ministry of Justice, no corruption factors were identified in the project. The amendments are aimed at replacing the IAS GOZ with a federal product catalog for federal needs, the object of which will be exclusively goods supplied under the GOZ.

To create a system in 2019-2020. 1.59 billion rubles were allocated, Vedomosti wrote. The system was created by the Federal Antimonopoly Service, the contractor was RT – Design Technologies, which is part of the structure of Rostec. Suppliers wishing to participate in deliveries under the State Defense Order had to place information in this system and be responsible for its completeness and reliability. At the same time, information should be posted both on prices for armaments, military and special equipment and operations with it, including repairs, and for ordinary products that fall under the law on public procurement. In the latter case, we are talking about fuels and lubricants, food, items of clothing allowance, furniture, household appliances, etc.

The draft states that the amendments were developed on behalf of Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov in accordance with the presidential order of October 25, 2022. The adoption of this decision, according to the reference to the bill, is due to the fact that the Ministry of Defense has begun to create a departmental digital platform in order to form prices for products supplied under the State Defense Order, which duplicates the initial functionality of the IAS created by the FAS of Russia, which involved comparing the prices of the State Defense Order with the prices of civilian goods. “Under the current conditions, most organizations have excluded information about prices for supplied products from open access. Taking into account the need to process information of limited distribution, as well as in connection with the emerging possibility of external impact on the IAS infrastructure, the technical implementation of the decision to create an IAS currently seems inappropriate, ”the design note specifies.

The purpose of the bill was to distinguish between goods and services aimed at civil circulation, and goods and services for military purposes, Maria Spiridonova, a member of the Association of Lawyers of Russia (AJUR), explained to Vedomosti. “This is also due to the difference in the cost of civil and military goods and services,” the lawyer said. Spiridonova separately noted that the bill itself does not create risks for the emergence of corruption schemes. “Given that such a database is supposed to be open, that is, available for viewing, the fact of corruption in this case is minimized,” she concluded.

The system for comparing prices with civilian counterparts is one of many methods that have been used since the late 2000s. The state is trying to contain prices for defense industry products, says the manager of the defense industry enterprise. But there was no serious effect from this measure, and after the start of a special military operation in Ukraine and a sharp increase in the state defense order, the importance of speed of decision-making in the procurement of military equipment increased, which caused the replacement of this IAS with a catalog that will be handled by the Ministry of Defense, he said.

The situation with tenders, which are not always justified in the field of the military-industrial complex, but must be held, which is especially painful in the context of ongoing hostilities in Ukraine and requests from military units for the speedy delivery or refinement of new types of weapons and military equipment, led to the abandonment of the IAS GOZ, explains military expert Yuri Knutov. At the same time, in his opinion, price control in the state defense order is not entirely correct – in the industry in 80% of cases, cheap does not mean best. At the same time, if only the Ministry of Defense controls pricing and excludes the FAS from it, this can turn into significant corruption, the expert argues. He is sure that external control is needed here at least from several law enforcement agencies, in particular the FSB, the Investigative Committee and / or others, which will be able to check each other for possible abuses. Knutov still considers it necessary to leave FAS control over the state defense order, provided that for this a special department is created in the antimonopoly department with the appropriate access to secrecy and powers, and the procedure for the state defense order itself is simplified in accordance with the needs of the military special operation.

A feature of the State Defense Order is state regulation of product prices, price comparison is only a method by which the state determines the cost of goods purchased under the State Defense Order, focusing on the market value, Anastasia Zykova, managing partner of Key Consulting Group, noted in an interview with Vedomosti. The lawyer also claims that the comparable price method is not the only one, the definition and types of prices are regulated by the relevant regulatory legal acts.

Vedomosti sent inquiries to Rostec and the Kalashnikov concern.

Yaroslava Kostenko participated in the preparation of the article