OREANDA-NEWS. July 25, 2013. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS Russia) found that the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation (the Ministry of Defence) violated Part 1 Article 15 and Article 17.1 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” — competition-restricting actions of the federal executive bodies and violations associated with concluding contracts regarding state and municipal property.

The Ministry of Defence organized a closed tender and concluded a contract for managing specialized housing stock of military towns of the Ministry of Defence with “Slavyanka” OJSC. Under Article 163 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation competitive bidding should take place in the form of open tenders. An additional agreement to the managing contract gave “Slavyanka” OJSC the right to use empty premises included in the general property of the specialized housing stock at the company’s disposal. This right also was granted without competitive procedures.

The Head of FAS Department for Control over Housing & Utilities Sector, Construction and Natural Resources Vadim Solovyov commented the decision: “Such actions by the Ministry of Defence restricted competition at tenders, and deprived economic entities of a possibility to take part in an open tender and render services for managing the specialized housing stock”.