OREANDA-NEWS.  The 4th All-Russian Forum and Exhibition "Goszakaz-2008" was officially closed on 26th March in Moscow. The venue took place on 24-26 March at the "Crocus-Expo" International Exhibition Centre. Representatives of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) also took part in the Forum, reported the press-centre of FAS Russia.

At the conference, the Head of FAS Russia Igor Artemyev outlined the main strategy of reforming state and municipal procurement of goods, works and services, and described the objectives of the Antimonopoly Service in this area.

Reference:
Under Article 17 of № 94-FZ Federal Law of 21.07.2005 "On State and Municipal Procurement of Goods, Works and Services" (further on referred to as the State Procurement Law), the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) and its regional offices control compliance of the state and municipal ordering party with the state procurement law by carrying out scheduled as well as unscheduled inspections.

In his welcoming address, the Head of FAS Russia said that intensive implementation of the procedures of the Federal Law "On State Procurement…" by the state ordering parties saved over 274 bln budget funds in two years, which is comparable, for instance, with annual expenditures from the Russian federal budget for education.

"The main achievements in state procurement for the last two years - improved competitive environment, decreased spending of budgetary funds and reduced corruption", - stated Igor Artemyev.

Among the FAS Russia's objectives for the near future, the Head of the Antimonopoly Service named developing a unified portal for state and municipal procurement, transition to e-trading, and making auctions the main form of state procurement.

The Head of the antimonopoly authority specially emphasized that the procedures established in the state procurement legislation must outspread to the work of state corporations and natural monopolies.

On 25th March 2008, the Head of the FAS Russia Department for State Procurement Supervision, Mr Michail Evraev talked about practical issues of enforcement of the Federal Law "On State Procurement…", described statutory innovations, and answered topical questions raised by the ordering parties and businessmen as well as regional and local regulatory authorities.

Special attention was drawn to the administrative enforcement practice of FAS Russia, that increased considerably from 1st October 2007. The penalty is now up to 50 000 Rubles for an official or each member of a commission that passed a decision violating the state procurement legislation.

As stated by Michail Evraev, continuously increasing number of complaints received by FAS Russia against the actions of the ordering parties means that economic entities - the bidders believe that the Antimonopoly Service can project their interests. If in 2006 FAS Russia received over 2400 complaints, than in 2007 the number of complaints reached nearly 10 000. FAS Russia found over 58% of the complaints justified. "It indicates that the state procurement system is recuperating", - pointed out the Head of the FAS Russia Department.

Reference:
4th International Forum and Exhibition "Goszakaz-2008" is organized by the Ministry Economic Development and Trade of the Russian Federation jointly with the "Moscow Association of Entrepreneurs" Interregional Non-Governmental Organization, under the patronage of the Trade and Industry Chamber of the Russian Federation, by instruction of the Government of the Russian Federation.

The venue has an international status, attended by the heads and representatives of international organizations, embassies and trade missions of various countries, companies and organizations. This year the exposition at the exhibition was twice as large in comparison with 2007.

The key theme of the Forum-Exhibition in 2008 - "State Procurement - to the Regions of Russia". More than 30 constituent territories of the Russian Federation take part in the work of Forum- Exhibition, and 20 -in the work of Forum.