The Ministry of Economy will reconsider the assessment of the effectiveness of budget investments in construction

The Ministry of Economy intends to reconsider the approach to assessing the effectiveness of budget investments in construction and reconstruction, as follows from the department’s draft order. According to the temporary, now permanent methodology that is replacing the temporary one, all new facilities worth more than 3 billion rubles will be subject to assessment, as well as projects for modernizing old ones when their capacity changes by more than 10%. The Ministry of Economy will more carefully assess the population’s demand for the construction of schools, hospitals, public utilities, as well as the demand for future products of enterprises under construction. According to the department’s plan, the new methodology should reduce the amount of funding for low-performing and unclaimed facilities.

The Ministry of Economy proposes to adjust, starting from 2024, the methodology for assessing investment projects with state participation, previously collected in the canceled Federal Targeted Investment Program (FAIP, see “Kommersant” of December 9) and in the list of capital construction projects. This is not the first attempt by the department to restore order in government construction projects and rid the budget of financing unnecessary and ineffective facilities. Until now, the government used a temporary methodology for assessing efficiency; it had two criteria (the need for the created capacities and the impact of the project on the integrated development of the territories), which allowed the financing of almost all construction projects proposed by the ministries.

Using this method, since May 1, 2023, the Ministry of Economy has reviewed more than 110 investment projects with a total value of more than 1.3 trillion rubles, the department told Kommersant. As a result, the Ministry of Economy issued 31 positive conclusions on the effectiveness of federal budget expenditures on the construction of facilities worth 339.8 billion rubles. and 11 negative ones – for objects worth 81.6 billion rubles. For other investment projects, industry departments must additionally justify the feasibility of their implementation.

According to the department’s draft order, a new methodology should come into effect from March 1, 2024: along with justifying the need for the created capacities, instead of compliance with territorial planning schemes, it will be necessary to justify how the implementation of the investment project affects the achievement of the goals of state programs. Efficiency assessment using a permanent methodology will be carried out by the Ministry of Economy for new facilities worth more than 3 billion rubles. or when the capacity indicator of such facilities changes by more than 10% in the event of adjustments to project documentation.

According to the new methodology, the department will assess the provision of educational services to the population for educational facilities, and the sufficiency of the available number of schools, clinics and hospitals in the area for healthcare facilities. It will also be assessed whether other enterprises produce similar products in sufficient quantities and whether new technologies are needed by specific consumers. As part of assessing the need for the created capacities, the department will analyze the need for direct government participation and the possibility of construction without budgetary funds, the availability of alternative ways to solve the problem without capital construction, as well as the location of the facility in territorial planning schemes. The criterion of compliance of projects with the goals of state programs will allow departments to structure projects by degree of importance. All projects will be assessed taking into account criteria on a point scale, so that the state will receive a list of projects for funding in all regions in order of their priority.

The department explains that the old method was originally intended to be temporary. “We tested it. We found flaws in the application process – for example, the insufficiency of subcriteria for a full assessment of demand, insufficient variability in the final assessment score, the need for a clearer link with the goals and objectives of state programs,” the department notes. The Ministry of Economy notes that there is no need to conduct a retrospective analysis of the old methodology. “The assessment was needed for the government to make decisions on capital investments, and for many projects for which conclusions were issued, such decisions were made and projects are being implemented. At the same time, if a change in the capacity of such facilities is required, the Ministry of Economy will conduct an assessment based on the new requirements,” the department says.

Diana Galieva