Golden tomographs

The amount of bribes, kickbacks, and non-targeted spending associated with the public procurement system is estimated at 1 trillion rubles, Dmitry Medvedev said in his message to the Federal Assembly. In this regard, the president ordered to rewrite the notorious law on public procurement (94-FZ in the terminology of specialists), which in August 2010 turned 5 years old. In connection with this date, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) even held a press conference, where it was said that one of the main results of the reform was the introduction of competitive procurement procedures, and savings for the budget from lower prices at auction amounted to 770 billion rubles. The anniversary of 94-FZ, however, was overshadowed by a high-profile scandal, which I would call a story about “golden tomographs”.

Back in April, I read a letter sent to Moscow by surgeon Alexei Popov from Arkhangelsk. As a member of the tender committee for the purchase of medical equipment, Popov was faced with the fact that the tomograph needed by his hospital was purchased at a tender with the participation of four companies at a price three times higher than indicated on the websites of manufacturing enterprises. The absurdity of the situation prompted the surgeon to conduct his own investigation, the results of which he outlined in his letter.

„

When purchasing equipment with a real value of $1 million, it was possible to purchase it for $3 million and still report on the “savings” of $1.5 million

”

The letter of the surgeon Popov, thanks to the Internet and the printed press, received a wide response. Apparently, it was this story that gave impetus to prosecutors and employees of the control department of the Kremlin administration for a series of checks and bringing the issue to the level of President Medvedev.

But important details remained outside the scope of public attention. Firstly, the local departments of the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the prosecutor's office refused complaints from other suppliers who offered similar equipment at a significantly lower price, because "the procedures of the law were not violated" during the procurement. Secondly, the head doctor of the hospital for which the “golden tomograph” was purchased did not hesitate to publicly declare that “the cost of the tomograph is 130 million rubles, but as a result of the auction, it was purchased for less than 88 million rubles.”

In other words: when purchasing equipment with a real value of $1 million (about 30 million rubles), it turned out to be possible to purchase it for $3 million and still report on the “savings” of $1.5 million.

In this regard, the question arises: how many such mythical millions of dollars are saved in those 770 billion rubles reported by the FAS? Unfortunately, there can be any number of them, since the current law does not regulate the setting of starting prices and, in general, the procurement planning stage, as well as the stage of contract execution.

That illustrates another example - a purely personal one. My child goes to a Moscow school where children are fed breakfast and lunch at reduced prices. Recently, there has been a change in the food factory that supplies food. It was changed because the Department of Education, in accordance with the law on public procurement, held another competition and the new supplier offered a lower price. At the same time, the quality of breakfasts and lunches decreased, but the district education department answered the parents' complaints that nothing could be done: the employees of the new supplier have medical books and health certificates, and there are no other requirements for them. As a result, children simply stopped eating in the school cafeteria. Well, in the FAS statistics, this situation will also fall under the category of “budget savings”.

So what is the point of a law that allows officials to calmly purchase “golden tomographs” and leave schoolchildren without a quality lunch?