The government supported the draft law on simplified procurement for the Ministry of Defense

The Government Commission on Legislative Activities has approved a draft law that allows the Ministry of Defense and its subordinate institutions to purchase goods, works, services from single suppliers on the basis of any civil law transactions provided for by the Civil Code (CC). This was reported to Vedomosti by two members of the government commission.

The project (Vedomosti got acquainted with it) was developed by the chairman of the Duma Defense Committee Andrei Kartapolov (United Russia), but has not yet been submitted to the lower house of parliament. The deputy proposes to amend part 15 of Art. 34 of the law “On the contract system in the field of procurement of goods, works, services to meet state and municipal needs”, which allows customers to conclude a contract in any form provided for by the Civil Code. It is proposed to extend this rule to the procurement of the Ministry of Defense from the only suppliers “for the purpose of conducting a special military operation and performing special tasks to ensure the defense and security of the state.”

“In the course of doing business, the customer needs to make urgent “small purchases” (on the basis of other civil law transactions) both in cashless form and for cash <…> without the need for the often lengthy procedure for concluding a state contract, and only after the inclusion of the relevant procurement in the schedule,” the explanatory note to the bill says.

According to the author of the bill, such a measure will make it possible to meet the needs of the army in the shortest possible time for urgent urgent “small purchases”, eliminate the organizational and paperwork associated with the procedure for including the relevant purchases in the schedule and the subsequent conclusion of government contracts, as well as pay directly at the places of performance of special tasks for cash.

On January 1, 2023, a law came into force allowing the Ministry of Defense and a number of enterprises and institutions subordinate to it to purchase goods, works and services from a single supplier to ensure the defense and security of the state in order to conduct a special military operation in Ukraine. According to the document, such measures are allowed “to ensure the defense and security of the state in order to conduct a special military operation, as well as to store the values ​​of the state material reserve.”

“The Ministry of Defense will be able to carry out so-called “small purchases”, the cost of which is estimated at hundreds of thousands of rubles, from a single supplier. Purchasing from a single supplier is legally allowed in exceptional cases, since it is assumed that the widespread use of procurement without a tender, auction or request for proposals may limit competition among suppliers,” said Dmitry Zharsky, director of the Veta expert group.

The purchase from a single supplier has an “indisputable plus” – the speed with which the customer can conclude a contract with him, he stressed.

“Usually, taking into account the timing of the development of tender documentation, its placement, acceptance and evaluation of applications, consideration of the draft contract and its signing, even without taking into account the risks of shifting the schedule, taking into account the risks of blocking the procedure on the complaint of its participants in connection with violations that could be committed by the organizer and / or the customer, such a purchase may take not even weeks, but months,” Zharsky told Vedomosti. For this, the law enforcement agencies are given an exceptional opportunity to make small purchases without competitive procedures and conclude an agreement in any form provided for by the Civil Code with a single supplier, the expert emphasized, but the Ministry of Defense and its structures do not have such an opportunity.

“The proposed amendments will simplify the procedure for purchasing the necessary materials and funds that are required, as they say, “on the ground” – directly where it is required for the needs of military formations in the zone of a special military operation,” Kulik & Partners lawyer explained to Vedomosti. law. Economics Pavel Dmitriev. Particular emphasis is placed on the possibility of paying for goods, works, services in cash, if there is no technical possibility of making non-cash payments, he said. This is important for new territories where civilian infrastructure is being restored, the lawyer added.

The proposed amendments apply only to urgent small purchases, the price of which does not exceed 600,000 rubles, Dmitriev said. Previously, such purchases were included in the “general list”, that is, they required compliance with rather lengthy procedures, which, accordingly, in principle, leveled the urgency of the purchase, and this could negatively affect the receipt of the necessary material resources, he noted.

If the draft law is adopted, the customer and the supplier will be able to conclude a contract much more freely, without providing for a number of conditions that federal law No. 44-FZ considers mandatory for other contracts (conditions on the responsibility of the parties to the contract, conditions on the procedure and terms of payment for the performance of the contract, and other conditions) , Ilya Bochinin, a lawyer in the antitrust and regulatory practice of VEGAS LEX, told Vedomosti.

“In this sense, the process of conducting the relevant purchases will indeed become easier due to the disposability of civil law regulation – the customer and the supplier will be able to provide or not provide for certain contract conditions that are beneficial or disadvantageous to them, respectively,” he noted.