Russia plans to spend 19 trillion rubles over the next decade to equip its armed forces with the latest weapons. That one sentence alone fills us with such pride. Right away, the mind conjures up tanks racing across rough terrain. The newest fighter jets soar overhead. And just beyond the next hill, flinging clods of earth and stones into the air, a submarine from the secret "Earthmover" system bursts up to the surface. The office tasked with delivering this celebration of military might is called Rosoboronpostavka. The office is headed by a lady named Nadezhda Valentinovna Sinikova.
As you might easily guess, her career background is tied to St. Petersburg, where she served in the tax inspectorate. Using one very small example—tiny, tiiiiny by Rosoboronpostavka standards—let’s take a look at how this agency spends those trillions of rubles. The Federal Agency for the Supply of Armaments, Military and Special Equipment, and Material Resources (Rosoboronpostavka) is procuring services for the creation and implementation of a specialized software package to automate the processes of the state procurement system of the Federal Agency for the Supply of Armaments, Military and Special Equipment, and Material Resources, for the needs of the Federal Agency for the Supply of Armaments, Military and Special Equipment, and Material Resources. For brevity, let’s call this marvel SPKAPSGZ. **Starting contract price: 25 million rubles. Production deadline: no more than 14 days **Here
Now let’s look at the amount of work that is supposed to be completed in 14 days:
Anyone who knows the subject will say right away: there’s nothing super complicated here, but getting it done in 14 days is objectively impossible. We asked one of the experts from the RosPil project (an anti-corruption initiative focused on public procurement) to study the tender documentation, figure out how the crooks at Rosoboronpostavka had rigged the competition for a specific supplier, and provide an official opinion on the matter. The expert uncovered the scheme very quickly. So, in order to take part in the tender, a bidder must have special qualifications. Sounds reasonable. Let’s see what kind of qualifications Rosoboronpostavka requires from IT specialists: Publications in international and Russian journals on topics related to e-commerce systems or the automation of public procurement procedures; State awards received by the bidder’s staff for contributions in the field of IT solutions; Copies of letters of commendation and references in the field of automating state and municipal procurement, covering the period from 2005 up to the date the tender application is submitted; In other words, they want programmers with medals and honorary certificates. But that’s not all. It turns out those honorary certificates are not just a qualification requirement—they’re the key to winning. The winner of the tender is whoever scores the most points. Let’s see how the points are calculated:
So, out of a possible 100 points, 35 are awarded for state honors and certificates. Meanwhile, the "experience" criterion is counted separately, while "quality of work" is worth only 50 points. But that’s still not all. The crooks at Rosoboronpostavka apparently think they’re the cleverest of all and that no one will figure out what they mean by "quality of work":
The key to the scheme is something called a "control sample." Anyone interested can look through the tender documentation themselves, but take my word for it: the requirements for the "control sample" are the same as the requirements for the SPKAPSGZ system itself. In other words, anyone wishing to take part in the tender has to build a finished system for free, before the tender even begins. It is perfectly obvious that someone has already paid a kickback to Rosoboronpostavka, cobbled together SPKAPSGZ, and is now waiting for budget money that will merely be laundered through the tender process. How much was kicked back? It’s hard to say exactly, but the consolidated estimate from various people looks like this: The system itself is worth, at most, $300,000–$400,000. The difference ($430,000–$530,000) was handed back to some modestly smiling Rosoboronpostavka employee. We cannot say for certain whether that half a million dollars was pocketed by the blonde Sinikova herself or by one of her deputies. What we can say for certain is that the regulations governing Rosoboronpostavka contain the following provision: ***The activities of Rosoboronpostavka are directed by the President of the Russian Federation. The President of the Russian Federation talks about fighting corruption in public procurement every 30 minutes. This is very much a "Medvedev issue" and a proper one at that. President Medvedev will definitely read this post. In the case of Rosoboronpostavka and SPKAPSGZ, he not only can but must "cast his words in granite" (a reference to one of Dmitry Medvedev’s well-known turns of phrase) or whatever he calls bringing thieving officials to their senses. If that does not happen, then we will have every reason to believe that the remaining 19 trillion rubles allocated to equipping the armed forces will be carved up in exactly the same way. PS So yes, of course we are waiting for Medvedev’s reaction, but we are sending complaints to the FAS (Federal Antimonopoly Service) and onward down the list in any case.