Any organization, be it commercial or state, acquires goods and services to support its activities. Private business acts at its own peril and risk, therefore, the effectiveness of its costs is monitored only in terms of the completeness of tax payments. But all sorts of government bodies, budgetary institutions, unitary enterprises and other similar organizations should not afford extra expenses. They receive funding from the budget and cannot decide for themselves which supplier to conclude an agreement with. Therefore, all their procurement activities, they should be carried out under the strict control of the contract system.
The essence and legal regulation
In a broad sense, the contract system refers to the totality of organizations and bodies that in one way or another participate in procurement to meet state and municipal needs. The system consists of several elements, the main of which are customers and suppliers. The former publicly publish information about their needs and announce purchases, while the latter take part in them and compete with each other. In an environment of healthy competition, an opportunity is created to obtain the best conditions of the contract.
The main regulatory act regulating public procurement is Federal Law No. 44-FZ of 04/05/13. Specialists briefly refer to it as the law on the contract system or on public procurement. The document spells out in detail the provisions regarding the rules and procedures for the implementation of procurement activities, but work on it is ongoing to this day.
Who is the customer
So, the initiator of the contract are the customers. These are organizations that are required by law to conduct public procurement. These include state and municipal authorities, state, budgetary and autonomous institutions, unitary enterprises, some state corporations, as well as other legal entities that make purchases at the expense of budget financing.
Customers think in advance what goods and services they will need in the near future, draw up planning documents and publish them in the public domain.
Suppliers and other participants in the public procurement system
The second side of the procurement contract system is suppliers. They can be any organizations, entrepreneurs and even individuals who meet certain requirements. When the customer announces the purchase of goods or services, suppliers submit their proposals in the applications. The winner is the one whose conditions will be recognized as the best according to a number of criteria, including price, quality and functional characteristics of the product, and many others. The winner is a state (municipal) contract.
In addition to the customer and the supplier, there are other links in the state contract system. For example, bodies that exercise control in the field of procurement. This is the Federal Antimonopoly Service, and in some cases other authorized bodies of regional and local authorities. The system also includes trading floors (ETFs) accredited to conduct trading in electronic form.
Unified Information System
Law No. 44-FZ requires that all purchases be conducted through the so-called Unified Information System (UIS). It is an online service in which customers post information about their needs. In the system you can find upcoming, current and past purchases from any region of Russia. In addition, other useful information is posted in the UIS, including:
- customer reports on their procurement activities;
- register of concluded state contracts;
- register of performers who violated the terms of the contract or evaded its conclusion (registry of unscrupulous suppliers);
- information on complaints about procurement procedures, inspections conducted by them and conclusions of regulatory authorities;
- contract forms required for certain types of activities;
- catalog of procurement objects - goods, services and works that customers may need.
For suppliers, the EIS has a more informative function. In fact, this is a large database for easy search of purchases and other information. However, the importance of the system is much wider - it provides transparency of procurement activities and makes it possible to control it.
Procurement preparation
Any purchase in a contract system is a multi-stage process. Its first stage is planning. It begins long before the customer has a need for a product or service. At the planning stage, a procurement plan and schedule are drawn up.
A procurement plan is being drawn up for the current fiscal year and the planned budget period - currently it is 3 years. It includes basic information about future purchases: the name of the purchased product or service, the purpose, duration or frequency of the purchase, the amount of funding required, and some other data. The schedule includes more detailed information, but only about purchases to be held this year. These documents are published in the UIS - according to them, suppliers can familiarize themselves with the needs of customers in advance, determine the degree of compliance with their requirements and plan to participate in procurement.
The procurement contract system requires mandatory public discussion, which is also held at the preliminary stage. This is relevant in cases established by law, for example, if the value of a future contract is estimated at 1 billion rubles or more. Discussion is a mechanism of public control over budget expenditures. Everyone can take part in it.
Carrying out the supplier determination procedure
At the time specified in the schedule, the customer announces the purchase. For this, he places a notice of procurement in the UIS, as well as procurement documentation. It contains requirements for the necessary product or service, conditions for the participation of suppliers, information on the method of determining the winner, the initial price of the contract, the deadline for execution and other important information.
Legislation on the contract procurement system strictly regulates the procedure for determining the supplier - customers are very limited in their choice of actions. For example, they cannot establish any additional requirements for the participants and the procurement object, and in many cases even choose a method for its implementation. And there are several of them:
- open competition and its subspecies;
- auction, and within the framework of the contract system, the price at the auction goes down;
- request for quotes;
- request for proposals;
- purchase from a single supplier.
Each of them has its own specifics and many nuances - from permitted cases to application evaluation criteria. The most popular is the electronic auction, as well as the conclusion of a contract with a single supplier. The use of the latter method is permitted only in some cases. In particular, this is a purchase from natural monopolies, that is, in the absence of competitors. An example is the acquisition of water, gas and electricity, as well as rail transportation. In addition, without competitive procedures, it is allowed to conclude contracts worth up to 100 thousand rubles, that is, to carry out so-called small purchases.
Form
It would seem that in the modern world, bidding should take place in electronic form, but not so simple. According to the authorities, in Russia neither people nor infrastructure are fully prepared for this yet. The reform, which implies the abandonment of "full-time" procedures, has been postponed from 2015. So far, the government plans to include the end of 2018 - the beginning of 2019, but it is possible that the deadline has been postponed again. So electronic procurement is a matter of the future, and I hope that it is not so distant.
In the meantime, auctions are being held in electronic form, and therefore they have gained immense popularity. The whole process is carried out on one of the electronic trading floors (ETP). To participate in the auction you must first pass accreditation on it. To do this, you need to issue an electronic signature and collect a small set of documents.
Having passed accreditation on the electronic trading platform, the supplier can apply for participation in auctions. The customer will either allow it before bidding or reject the application. The latter occurs if the supplier or the proposed product does not meet the requirements established in the auction documentation. The customer cannot reject the application without reason. This will be a direct violation of competition, and its provision is one of the principles of the procurement contract system.
On the appointed day and hour, the procedure of the electronic auction on the electronic trading platform begins. Of the eligible participants, the one who offers the lowest price wins.
Conclusion and execution of the state contract
Whatever the method of determining the supplier, the winner cannot refuse to conclude a state contract. He also has no right to adjust his provisions of his own free will - the essential terms of the contract are not subject to change. Therefore, it is extremely important that you carefully read the text of the draft contract before submitting an application - it is always published in the UIS together with the procurement documents.
The supplier will not be able to voluntarily refuse to execute the already concluded state contract. You can terminate it, but good reasons are needed for this. For example, a court decision or a violation by a second party of its essential conditions. In practice, contracts are most often terminated through the fault of the suppliers themselves - they do not fulfill their obligations. Such an executor falls into the Register of unscrupulous suppliers, and work in the contract system for him in the near future will become very difficult.
Acceptance of Results
When the contract is completed, the customer must arrange for the acceptance of its results. On his own or with the involvement of experts, he conducts an examination of the procurement object. Its purpose is to determine whether the delivered goods or the provided service meets the stated requirements.
If the experts give a positive assessment, the customer signs an acceptance document and pays. If minor defects are identified, the contractor will be asked to eliminate them. If the examination determines that the goods of inadequate quality have been delivered and its defects cannot be corrected, the customer will refuse to accept them. This is exactly the case when the contract can be terminated due to violation of its terms by the supplier.
The contract system brings together a huge number of participants. It was created to make the process of spending budget funds more efficient and more transparent. It is difficult to assess how far the goals have been achieved. Today, the system is still far from ideal, but its mechanism is gradually developing.