"File a complaint with the prosecutor's office." You hear that a lot. I say it myself quite often. And RosPil often files complaints with the prosecutor's office, demanding prosecutorial action against the organizers of rigged, kickback-driven tenders. Unfortunately, with little success. Our prosecutors have no great desire to deal with corruption in public procurement—after all, for these men in blue uniforms too, kickbacks from state contracts are a real gold mine.
For example, the case of how prosecutors were taking bribes in connection with Hewlett-Packard equipment purchases is still being "investigated"—unsuccessfully. The company itself admitted that bribes were paid, but we have heard nothing about any of the bribe-takers being held accountable. RosPil is now looking into a truly remarkable case involving the prosecutor's office's "information system development"—a project that, we are sure, will pay for more than one lovely little house in Miami. We could use additional expert help here, so if anyone is willing to study the procurement materials and join in, we'd be glad to have you. So, over the past year, the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia carried out 6 major tenders for upgrades and maintenance of its own information system, primarily the personnel and pension records system. Digital modernization is useful, and the prosecutor's office is a large institution. So yes, it costs money. Only, as usual in Russia, it cost FAR TOO MUCH. The total value of the 6 contracts was 1.18 billion rubles (about 1.18 billion RUB). In one year. Let's do a completely improper calculation and work out the average temperature across the hospital (a Russian idiom meaning a misleading overall average): the total authorized staff of the prosecutor's office is 45,865 employees (Presidential Decree of the Russian Federation dated January 25, 2011, No. 90, "On the total authorized staff of the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation"). 1,180,000,000 / 45,865 = 25,728 In other words, the prosecutor's office's digital modernization (in the last year alone) cost 25,000 rubles per employee. Question: did that price include a gold cockade for every employee and diamond-striped trousers for senior management? Answer: no—and that makes the situation even stranger. As I said, 6 tenders were announced in total. Contracts have already been signed for 5 of them. In 4 cases, only one bidder took part. Why? Because the unlawful participation requirements in the Prosecutor General's Office procurements did not allow "outsiders" even to submit a bid. Contract No. 1 (http://zakupki.gov.ru/pgz/public/action/orders/info/commission_work_result/show?notificationId=2536420). contract value — 401 million rubles number of bids submitted — 1 Winner: Open Technologies 98 Closed Joint-Stock Company;
The tender was declared unsuccessful, but since there was one participant, a contract could be signed with them simply by notifying the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). Contract No. 2 (http://zakupki.gov.ru/pgz/public/action/orders/info/commission_work_result/show?notificationId=3941840). contract value — 10 million rubles, number of bids submitted — 1 Winner: IT-Profile Limited Liability Company.
Same story. Contract No. 3 http://zakupki.gov.ru/pgz/public/action/orders/info/commission_work_result/show?notificationId=2553656 contract value — 232,347,000.00 rubles, number of bids submitted — 1 Winner: Synterra Closed Joint-Stock Company;
Contract No. 4 http://zakupki.gov.ru/pgz/public/action/orders/info/commission_work_result/show?notificationId=2412627 contract value — 229,937,000.00 rubles, number of bids submitted — 1 Winner: Open Technologies 98 Closed Joint-Stock Company.
Contract No. 5 http://zakupki.gov.ru/pgz/public/action/orders/info/common_info/show?notificationId=589940 contract value — 69,500,000.00 rubles, number of bids submitted — 2 Winner — Open Technologies 98 Closed Joint-Stock Company.
Contract No. 6 http://zakupki.gov.ru/pgz/public/action/orders/info/common_info/show?notificationId=5419906 contract value — 236,900,000.00 rubles
The latest contract in this series was announced recently and has not yet been completed, but the technical specifications contain everything needed to ensure the job goes to the "right" people. We have appealed this procurement (text of the complaint), and tomorrow at 11:30 it will be reviewed by the FAS. I hope the antimonopoly officials won't flinch from issuing a lawful decision and ordering the cancellation of this Prosecutor General's Office procurement. In any case, it is obvious that we will be dealing with this "digital modernization" for quite a while yet, so if anyone is ready to help with solid expert analysis in this matter, please write to us. All preliminary consultations with experts tell us that the amount has been inflated by at least a factor of two. Exposing the prosecutors is not an easy process, but it is an engaging one. RosPil exists on public donations. You can make one here—donating by bank card is now very convenient.