Officials note a decrease in competition on electronic trading platforms

The electronic trading system, which is thought of as a means of combating corruption, actually reduces the activity of bidders, according to the Khabarovsk authorities. The head of the municipal procurement department, Yuri Kromskikh, announced this at the board at the mayor's office. The regional authorities agree that with the introduction of the electronic trading system, problems in their organization have increased, although the volume of transactions is growing. However, representatives of electronic trading platforms claim that entrepreneurs quickly master the bidding procedure on the Internet and do not see any special problems for officials.

Since the beginning of 2011, the traditional “paper” version of bidding has given way to auctions that take place electronically. As noted by the Khabarovsk mayor's office, thanks to the electronic form of bidding, the procedure for placing an order is transparent, which minimizes the possibility of collusion among participants. But the system of electronic auctions reduces the level of competition, according to the Khabarovsk administration. This conclusion was made on Wednesday at a board meeting under the mayor of the city, dedicated to the work of the municipal order system.

Until 2011, it was possible to announce a multi-lot competition and thus attract large suppliers, the board members noted. But with the introduction of the electronic auction procedure, a separate auction has to be held for each lot. As follows from the materials of the board, of the volume of municipal procurement, which currently amounts to about 5 billion rubles, almost half is for tenders for the performance of work, 28% for the purchase of goods, 23% for services. According to the head of the municipal procurement department, Yuri Kromskikh, the number of auctions over the nine months of this year, compared to last year, has more than doubled. 499 auctions, 20 tenders and 411 requests for quotations were conducted. But at the same time, a third of the auctions did not take place, since small volumes are unattractive for suppliers. If last year there were seven participants for each auction, now the level of competition has dropped to four, the mayor’s office notes.

Since January 1, 2011, all purchases for federal, regional and municipal needs have been transferred to electronic form. Electronic trading for state and municipal needs is carried out on the platforms of the Unified Electronic Trading Platform (UETP), RTS Tender, MICEX ETP, through the trading system Sberbank-AST, Zakaz-RF. In addition, the region has an electronic trading platform for trading agricultural products, created by the regional government of Khabarovsk.

Regional authorities, along with municipal ones, admit that the electronic bidding procedure has given rise to many problems. But at the same time, according to the most rough estimates, the volume of trading on electronic platforms exceeded the volume of in-person auctions by tens of times. As Svetlana Kozub, deputy chairman of the regional government's state procurement committee, explained yesterday, for ten months of 2011, the volume of electronic trading, in which the regional authorities were the initiators, amounted to 8.56 billion rubles. About 1.4 billion rubles. of this amount - competitive procedures, 7.16 billion rubles. - auctions. About 67% of the bidding amount is contract work, about 6% is the purchase of medical equipment, 3-4% is software and related products.

Director of the Khabarovsk office of the EETP Alla Martynenko believes that electronic trading is a relatively new technology for both officials and entrepreneurs, and its mandatory introduction came as a surprise to them. “Indeed, at the beginning of the year the trading volume was low, but by the end of the year the situation leveled off,” she says. “Currently, more than a thousand entrepreneurs are registered on our site, and this number is growing.” Ms. Martynenko estimated the amount of trading already conducted on the EETP in Khabarovsk at approximately 900 billion rubles, while there are five electronic trading platforms in the city, she noted. Multi-lot auctions “on paper” really simplified the work of officials, Ms. Martynenko agreed, since within the framework of one competition it was possible to conclude one contract for several lots. “But, in the end, it is possible to develop standard templates for each lot,” she added. “Entrepreneurs very quickly master the bidding procedure on the Internet, and I don’t see any problems for government agencies.”

Vadim Pasmurtsev

Bargaining is not very appropriate