We've got a new wave of letters coming into RosPil asking, "How can I expose someone too?" These letters always come in, but there are more of them now: most likely that's simply connected to RosPil's new fundraising drive. People not only want to help financially, they also want to go after some crooks themselves. Let me answer everyone at once: if you really want to catch a crook, finding one isn't hard. In public procurement, unfortunately, it's harder not to find one than to find one. Let's say you live in Moscow. The first thing to do is simply look out the window. There you'll see gloomy Tajik and Uzbek workers "putting budget funds to use" under the category of "landscaping and repairs." A gold mine for "effective city managers." Wonder why in the last Moscow municipal elections, nearly 600 candidates were removed from the ballot, clearing the field for United Russia? So that whenever the words "landscaping funding" are mentioned, the mayor of Moscow and the city's top United Russia boss have exactly this expression on their face:
(S. S. Sobyanin is comparing the current budget to the crumbs left over from installing curbstones in Tyumen) If even 30% of municipal deputies were like Katz, calling out improper lawn installation, or Garnachuk, driving the Troparyovo-Nikulino district administration up the wall, Moscow would change dramatically. Anyway, back to what you can actually do. Go to the public procurement website and study the state/municipal landscaping contracts in your district. For example, there's an activist named Vladimir Ivanov who did exactly that (good for him). It turned out that the district administrations of 12 neighborhoods in Moscow's Southwestern Administrative Okrug placed contracts for courtyard repairs and landscaping at the end of this very year, with a total value of about 1.5 billion rubles. An initial review of the documents, something anyone can do without any special expertise, immediately shows the following: 1. The project documentation was concealed—they "forgot" to publish it on the website. Who would bid on a major repair contract (road widening, replacement of asphalt concrete surfacing, pipeline replacement, replacement of hot and cold water supply systems, etc.) knowing only the starting auction price and not the scope of work? That's right: only the one to whom S. S. Sobyanin and his team are blowing a kiss in the photo above. Here's how to file a complaint about that:
2. Each contract includes restrictions on the use of subcontractors. They have to be approved. Obviously, construction projects don't happen without subcontractors. Especially when a single tender combines "installation of flower beds and fencing for playgrounds" with "road widening and replacement of asphalt concrete surfacing." You might offer a great price and win the tender, but some mug in the district administration will say: Hmm... no, I don't think we'll allow you to work with that subcontractor. We don't like them. Here's how to file a complaint about that:
3. The procedure and deadlines for payment are not defined. The draft contract says that payment for the work will be made in stages in accordance with the project schedule. But there is no project schedule. Hey there, you crooks from City Hall and the prefecture of Moscow's Southwestern Administrative Okrug! Do you think we don't understand why there's no schedule? Because if the winner of the tender is the right kind of winner, they'll get a very nice and pleasant schedule: the first payment stage comes two days after the contract is signed, after which the customer pays 90% of the contract price. But if the winner is an outsider, getting a comfortable financing schedule will be a lot harder. Here's how to file a complaint about that:
These formal grounds alone are enough to get the tenders canceled. But you can dig further, and quite possibly establish that: 4. Many contracts include work to install "small architectural forms" (playground slides, benches, planters, trash bins, fountains, and so on). But there are no requirements for them whatsoever. Everything is left to be agreed by the parties after the contract is signed. 5. Some procurements look downright magical: "carrying out a set of measures to ensure comfortable living conditions for residents," without saying in the slightest what actually needs to be done.
Not tired yet? Want to keep digging? You can find a firm like the so-called specialized organization LLC "Goszakazchik.ru". They were the ones posting all these "landscaping" contracts. "Goszakazchik.ru" doesn't work only with Moscow's Southwestern Administrative Okrug. Here's, for example, a landscaping contract in the Pechatniki district:
You may remember these cheerful red letters from the story about buying shoes for an orphanage.
They mean that this wonderful "specialized organization" inserts Latin characters into contracts so they can't be found in searches.
By the way, a supermarket-style price like "2,999,999" isn't accidental either: if the contract price does not exceed 3 million rubles, the application period for participating in the auction can be as short as 7 days (instead of 20).
Formally legal, but in substance a manipulation.
So what should you do next?
You can take one of the templates (about 20 of them) that RosPil prepared for this case.
Using a template, it's fairly easy to write a complaint. Here are the ones we prepared ourselves (Gagarinsky, Konkovo, Yasenevo).
And here are more complaints being filed using those same templates.
All three of ours were upheld, so: a) the template is good, and b) our complaints were upheld this week, so they can be cited as precedent.
I assure you, spend two days with a computer and this post as your guide, and you'll definitely find something you can challenge.
By the way, if you're in St. Petersburg, you can team up with the cool guys from "Municipalnaya Pila".
We work with them. For example, on the investigation into the "use" of 40 million rubles allocated for landscaping.
So there you have it. There's enough work for everyone.
And if you don't want to work, just send us money and we'll do the work.