Most tenders in Russia are carried out by the state through the public procurement system. Volume public procurement amounts to more than 40 trillion rubles per year.

Government procurement for dummies

Government procurement is an abbreviation for the word government procurement. These are purchases of goods, works or services carried out government agencies, organizations, ministries, departments and government companies according to specially defined procedures.

The purpose of public procurement is to meet the needs of government customers for goods, works and services, save the budget, and reduce abuse. For this purpose, a whole system of legislation was invented, called the contract system.

Government procurement can be competitive when the supplier, contractor or executor under a government contract is determined through competitive procedures carried out in various forms and aimed at selection best offer. On average, 3 potential suppliers participate in them.

There is a non-competitive form of government procurement - procurement from sole supplier, when a government contract is concluded without competition, that is, in the absence of a choice from several possible options.

Types of government procurement

Public procurement takes place in the form of an auction, competition, request for quotations, request for proposals and others.

• Public procurement mechanisms are defined in legislation and Government regulations
• The concept of tender itself is not officially used in the public procurement system.
• The term “procurement” is used, their totality is called the contract system
• Government procurement is carried out on a competitive basis and is designed to save money for government customers.

What all the terms presented have in common is that they all:

– are forms of competitive, market competition between participants for the right to conclude an agreement;

– carried out after collecting a package of documents received from potential participants according to the conditions previously announced in the documentation; within the time limits established by the commission; based on the principles of competition, fairness and efficiency.

Tender is a synonym for the words “bidding”, “competition”. The definition of this term was borrowed from in English. The term has been used in Russia since the 90s of the 20th century. In 1994, the UNCITRAL Model Law on the Procurement of Goods (Works) and Services was adopted at the international level. The Model Law summarized the experience in the field of public procurement abroad and proposed a model for organizing procurement activities for national legislation. In Russian business practice, along with international tenders in which Russian companies, are allocated by state and commercial tenders.

A tender is a competitive form of placing orders for the supply of goods, provision of services or performance of work according to conditions previously announced in the documentation, within a specified time frame, on the principles of competition, fairness and efficiency. The concept of “tender” is also used in relation to non-competitive (but competitive) procedures, such as requests for quotes, requests for prices, requests for proposals. The contract is concluded with the winner of the tender - the participant who submitted a proposal that meets the requirements of the documentation, which offers the best conditions.

IN Russian legislation the concept of “tender” is absent. Instead, the concepts of “bidding” and “competition” are used. Thus, Articles 447-449 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation define the specifics of holding public auctions in Russia. Article 447 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation states that the owner of a thing or the holder of property rights or a specialized organization can act as an auction organizer. Bidding is carried out in the form of an auction or competition. The form of bidding is determined by the owner of the item being sold or the owner of the property right being sold, unless otherwise provided by law. An auction or competition in which only one participant participated is considered invalid. Article 448 defines the procedure for conducting auctions, according to which “the person who wins the auction and the auction organizer sign on the day of the auction or competition a protocol on the results of the auction, which has the force of a contract.” Article 449. “Consequences of violation of the rules for conducting auctions” characterizes auctions held in violation of the rules established by law as invalid based on a lawsuit by an interested person. Recognition of the auction as invalid entails the invalidity of the contract concluded with the person who won the auction.

How does a tender differ from an auction?

An auction is a competition between bidders based on only one criterion – price. The auction offers prices and offers for all participants. It differs from a tender by the ability of participants to change the submitted proposal. Each auction participant can change their bids, offering more profitable terms than its competitors. The auction is conducted by reducing the initial (maximum) contract price (lot price) specified in the notice of an open auction by an “auction step”. The auction step is strictly defined and amounts to 0.5% of the maximum contract price specified by the customer. The supplier who offers the lowest price wins.

Tenders are conducted on the reverse principle. Each participant submits a proposal in a “closed envelope”. Proposals are hidden from competitors and are available only to the tender commission. The goal of the candidates is to provide the tender commission with favorable delivery conditions. The contract will be concluded with the company that offered the best terms for the execution of the contract. Best conditions There are several criteria: price (submitted by the participant in advance), consumer properties, quality of goods, works, services, qualifications of the competition participant, terms, guarantee. An important role is played by the tender documentation submitted by the enterprise. It must meet all the requirements of the tender documentation, that is, contain the technical and commercial parts. In the technical part, you need to provide a description and general information about the bidding object, provide instructions for suppliers, and provide an information card. The commercial part must indicate prices, conditions, payment schedules, and sources of financing for the contract. The specific content of the tender documentation is determined by the tender committee.

How does a tender differ from a competition?

In fact, these are synonymous words. Unlike “tender”, the concept of “competition” is defined in the main document regulating property relations in Russia - Civil Code RF. The concept of “tender” is widely used in Russian business practice and is absent in Russian legislation.

Summarizing our analysis, we can draw the following conclusions:

– the concepts of “tender”, “auction”, “competition”, “bidding” are widely used in business practice as forms of competitive competition between participants for the right to conclude an agreement;

– the concept of “bidding” is used in Russian legislation and is divided into two types: auction and competition;

– the concept of “auction” means a type of bidding that is conducted by an auctioneer who organizes direct competition between bidders based on only one criterion - price; differ in the ability of participants to change the submitted proposal;

– the concept of “competition” means a type of bidding in which the competition of participants is carried out according to several criteria: price (submitted by the participant in advance), consumer properties, quality of goods, works, services, qualifications of the competition participant, terms, guarantee. Proposals are hidden from competitors and are available only to the competition commission, which, at a closed meeting, evaluates the packages of tender documentation of bidders;

– the concept of “tender” means a competitive form of bidding and is widely used in international and Russian business.

Get accredited on the Electronic Platform. Obtaining accreditation is simple and free procedure, but takes about one business day.

If necessary, undergo training in working with bidding on the Electronic Platform.

Make sure all documents required to participate in the auction are up to date.

If necessary, prepare the documents and information provided for in paragraphs 1, 3 - 5, 7 and 8 of part 2 of article 62, parts 3 and 5 of article 66 of 44-FZ.

Select the method of providing security for your bid to participate in the auction. Take advantage of our solutions.

Have you applied to participate in the auction?

Expect notification of admission to trading! At this stage, the first parts of applications are considered.

Are you allowed to trade?

Congratulations! Plan your participation in the auction.

The auction organizer rejected your application and you do not agree with this decision?

Auction! The one who offers the most favorable conditions and price wins.

If within 10 minutes from the start of bidding none of the participants submits a single price proposal, such an auction is considered invalid.

If the price offered by the winning bidder is 25% less than the Initial Maximum Price (IMP), such participant is obliged to confirm his reputation and provide security in a larger amount.

If the auction winner avoids concluding a contract, information about this is sent to the Register of Unfair Suppliers (RNP).

Wait for the results of the auction, monitor compliance with deadlines:

Within 30 minutes after the end of the auction - publication of the Protocol Electronic Auction(PPEA) on the Electronic Platform.

No more than 3 working days from the date of publication of the Protocol of the Electronic Auction (PEA) on the Electronic Platform - consideration by the Customer of 2 parts of the applications, as well as the formation of a Protocol of Summing up (PSI).

No later than the working day following the date of signing the Protocol of Summing up (PSI) - placement by the customer of the PPI on the Electronic Platform and in the Unified Information System(EIS)

Are you a winner? Congratulations! Provide the Customer with contract performance security and sign the contract

Signing of the contract is possible no earlier than 10 days from the date of publication of the Protocol of Summation (PPI) in the Unified Information System (UIS).

Follow deadlines strictly. The ratio of working days and weekends is not important:

No more than 5 days from the date of publication of the Summary Protocol (SMP) in the Unified Information System (UIS) - the Customer publishes the draft contract.

No more than 5 days from the date of publication by the Customer of the draft contract - the Winner publishes the protocol/draft contract. The winner who did not send a protocol of disagreements or did not send a signed draft contract after 13 days from the date of publication of the Protocol of Summation (SMP) in the Unified Information System (UIS) is considered to have evaded signing the contract.

The ratio of working days and weekends is fundamental:

No more than 3 working days from the date of publication by the winner in the Unified Information System (UIS) of the protocol of disagreements, the Customer publishes a revised draft of the contract (or in a separate document, a refusal to fully or completely take into account the comments in the protocol of disagreements of the winner).

No more than 3 working days from the date of publication by the Customer in the Unified Information System (UIS) of the finalized draft contract - the winner publishes the protocol/draft contract + provides confirmation of contract enforcement.