The government unifies the rules of the construction state order

The White House is seeking to unify the rules of construction public procurement – after a long period of regulation of the terms of standard construction contracts at the level of ministries, the issue has been raised at the government level. The new resolution of the White House will regulate the issues of interaction between customers and contractors – from the list of documents to be transferred to the procedures for accepting and paying for work. Until now, there were no clear rules in the industry, which led to the suspension of bidding and the termination of contracts – the government expects that the new document will increase the efficiency of construction procurement and increase transparency by simplifying the control procedure, including facilitating its automation.

From September 2023, customers and contractors will receive unified and understandable terms of state contracts for the construction, reconstruction, overhaul and demolition of capital construction facilities, follows from Decree No. 1066 of June 29 approved by the government. “The construction industry needed to equalize the balance of rights and obligations that the customer established when preparing the draft contract,” the government notes.

Note that this is not the first attempt by the government to standardize procurement procedures, including in the construction industry. The Law on the Contract System (FZ-44) imposes requirements for the preparation of standard requirements for goods and services, and for the most massive types of purchases, standard contract terms are introduced (for example, for the provision of educational services for civil servants, the purchase of medicines or the repair of various equipment) – this allows reduce the risk of abuse by customers, errors in the execution of contracts, as well as increase the efficiency of budget spending and reduce the number of violations due to automation of control. Earlier, we recall, requirements were introduced into the standard conditions of state contracts on the timing of the fulfillment of financial obligations to contractors – to combat non-payment by state customers for goods, works and services (see Kommersant dated September 4, 2020).

In construction procurement, standard contracts also existed, but until now the rules of the game (the terms of standard contracts and the documents themselves) were approved by the ministries. Their scattered orders could conflict with each other, and also did not contain exhaustive requirements for contracts. As a result, the issues of interaction between procurement participants have so far remained unresolved – for example, there were no clear rules and deadlines for consideration by the customer of requests and notifications from contractors. “At the same time, each customer, acting at his own discretion, concentrated only on what the contractor was obliged to do, did not reflect information about the completeness of the necessary documents indicating the possibility of starting construction. This approach led to the refusal of contractors to participate in procurement, the suspension of bidding, and the termination of contracts, ”the government explains.

The government decree clearly prescribes the conditions on the obligations and rights of the contractor, which should be included in the contract: to complete the work stipulated by the contract on time, ensure the safety of work and the ability of the customer to control the execution of the contract, eliminate violations and defects at his own expense, and also require the customer to timely fulfill financial obligations and payment of penalties in case of delay. Symmetrical conditions are provided in terms of the obligations and rights of the customer. Separately, the document prescribes the conditions for guaranteeing the quality of work and their results, the price of the contract, the possibility of changing and terminating the contract, as well as accepting and paying for the work performed.

Thus, the document responds to the main request of the construction industry – to establish uniform, streamlined, transparent and pre-known terms of contracts in the construction industry, which the customer must include in the contract, said Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin.

Diana Galieva