M. Stulov

Electronic examination 

"The situation with the electronic government service for project examination has become paradoxical," says Igor Solonnikov. "How long has the professional community talked about administrative barriers that hinder the development of investment activities in construction? And now, please, the Moscow authorities have heeded the voice of one crying in the wilderness and transferred the services to electronic form. In our opinion, electronic interaction between the examination and designers / applicants is convenient, fast, transparent. But the professional community turned out to be, in fact, not ready to switch to a new format of interaction in reality. Since October 1, applications for examination of projects under city orders are accepted only in electronic form. This year, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin also decided to examine projects only in electronic form and for investment projects. Over the years of traditional personal communication with the state examination, designers and applicants have become accustomed to the fact that the expert is available, they can discuss the project with him and try to argue their design solution. After the introduction of the electronic format of examination, this opportunity remains - no one has canceled it. So gradually, but the examination in electronic form will be implemented in full.”

Moscow is the largest investor in the capital, annually investing more than 300 billion rubles in construction. Moscow authorities claim that they build cheaper than their predecessors. How much? Igor Solonnikov, Chairman of the City Committee for Pricing Policy in Construction and State Expertise of Projects (Moskomexpertiza), talks about this in an interview with Vedomosti. He checks every construction project that is built at the expense of the budget. In fact, the committee establishes uniform rules and approaches to the formation of the estimated cost of construction of budget projects. In Moscow, the estimate and regulatory base TSN-2001 is in effect.

- What goals did you set?

- Shortly before my appointment, a new regulation on Moskomexpertiza (48-PP) was issued, and we were given new functions that were previously performed by the Department of Economic Policy. That was when the functions of pricing in the construction of city-ordered objects were transferred to the committee. And this is, first of all, maintaining the territorial estimate and regulatory base up to date and developing it. This is a tool that allows you to calculate how much a particular construction object costs.

The Moscow cost estimate and standard base consists of approximately 70,000 cost estimate prices and rates, and has existed since 2001. And this entire colossus must be constantly kept up to date. Our life changes every year: tariffs and inflation rates change, new technologies and materials appear, etc. And all this must be taken into account and changes must be promptly made to the base. Correction factors are applied to each rate, transferring the price level from the base to the current one - they are updated monthly. And outdated cost estimate and standard rates are removed. For example, when new equipment or new materials appear. Such a review is carried out once a quarter.

- Recently, the Ministry of Construction came up with an initiative to include the Moscow database in the Federal Register of Estimate Standards without specifying a validity period, as was the case previously. What does this mean?

- It has always been included there (albeit on a temporary basis). This decision will not fundamentally change anything for the Moscow pricing system, since the Moscow government has always borne all the costs of maintaining and updating the estimate and regulatory base itself.

- What is the contractor's profitability factored into government procurement projects?

- In the TSN-2001 database, profitability in the form of estimated profit is included in each standard separately depending on the type of work and is, as a rule, 50% of wages. What is the estimated cost of an object made up of? Approximately 65% is the cost of materials, 10% is wages, 15% is overhead costs and estimated profit, and another 10% is machinery and mechanisms.

- And when a contractor comes to a tender and gives a 20% reduction, should this alert the government customer?

- Yes, but this is no longer my area of activity.

- How is the price formed in the targeted investment program (AIP)?

- The AIP is formed by the department of urban development policy, based on the cost of similar objects built by the city in previous years. Then this price is specified in the process of developing and coordinating the project and bidding.

- How do you interact with other departments of the construction complex?

- The city decides that a particular highway needs to be reconstructed. The Department of Urban Policy includes the facility in the AIP. The Department of Construction prepares the technical specifications for the future project. On its basis, tender documentation is prepared and a design tender is held. Then the design documentation is developed and submitted to the Moscow State Expertise. And when calculating the estimated cost of the project, the designer uses the prices that are in our database. The expertise checks the project for compliance with standards and technical regulations and the correctness of the estimates. Based on the results of the expertise, the estimated cost of the facility is calculated, which is then, as a rule, reduced as a result of competitive procedures.

- Are new types of construction technologies emerging?

- Yes. This is especially noticeable at metro sites. Plus, together with the Department of Cultural Heritage, in 2013 we adopted a number of new rates for restoration work. Before that, repair and restoration work was assessed according to standards developed back in the Soviet era.

- What is the difficulty with innovative technologies, why can’t they be widely used in urban construction right now?

- The use of innovative technologies for urban construction is, in fact, the next level of budget optimization after reducing the cost of construction. It is possible to increase the operational durability and maintainability of the objects being constructed and thereby reduce the costs of their subsequent technical maintenance. But the current TSN-2001 base includes a limited number of estimate prices, which does not fully reflect the current level of technological development. The number of scientific and technical developments continues to increase annually. Innovative materials and technologies can only get to Moscow construction sites after being included in the territorial estimate and regulatory base.

Our main task is to reduce the cost of construction of city procurement facilities. Therefore, first of all, prices are developed for those innovative materials that are cheaper and the economic effect of the implementation of which is already obvious. For example, last year, the Moscow Committee for Expertise received an application from the metro to use modified sleepers when laying tracks. Their service life is twice as long as those used previously. Now these sleepers are used in the construction of the metro.

Moreover, these are all products of domestic production. So, by working in this direction, we thereby stimulate the growth of investments in the development of construction materials production in the Moscow region. Since, as a rule, the introduction of new developments in this area into production occurs just after the inclusion of a direct price for specific types of new construction materials in the estimate and regulatory base. It is then that a potential manufacturer can assess the investment attractiveness of the project, having calculated all the costs and determined the payback period and the return on initial investments.

- The head of the construction complex, Marat Khusnullin, keeps saying: "We managed to reduce the cost of metro construction by 25%." How did we manage to do that?

- There are three components. Optimization of urban planning solutions, which precedes the examination, optimization of design solutions and direct reduction due to the examination of estimate documentation. Since 2011, the committee has been regularly updating the price list for the design and construction of metro facilities. We have also developed and published special collections of equipment for the metro. On average, we have reduced the prices by 15% from the previously valid prices. As I have already said, significant savings are also achieved due to the optimization of urban planning and design solutions. Shallow stations are initially cheaper than classic deep stations. You can save on the interior design of vestibules and stations due to the use of lighter materials - for example, stainless steel. In addition, Moskomexpertiza, upon requests from the city customer, agrees on the price level for products for the construction and reconstruction of metro lines, electric depots and stations. This year, the average reduction in prices for materials and equipment from those originally presented was up to 32%. The range is varied - from reinforcement, metal structures and piles to fans and finishing materials.

- What are the recent trends in the construction materials market - what is becoming more expensive, what is becoming cheaper?

- They usually become more expensive in the spring, when the construction boom begins and manufacturers raise prices. We constantly monitor this process. We check the correctness of the calculations in the calculation of material and labor resources. For example, this year, prices were agreed for the supply of asphalt concrete mixtures, energy-saving panels and window units, waterproofing materials for tunnels and underground structures, etc. The average price reduction is from 2 to 40%. And we monitor the current selling prices of manufacturers and suppliers of building materials. This is more difficult, since it requires not only more time, but also significant human resources to collect data. We make a selection of those types of products that are in demand in urban budget construction. If the design becomes much more expensive, for example, for a panel house that is being built by DSK, we ask the manufacturer how this price was formed. Are trips to the Canary Islands on a private jet included in the unit of production? (Laughs.)

In general, I can say that urban development policy inevitably influences the dynamics of price changes for construction products. Now, due to active road construction and extension of metro lines, prices for construction materials for these segments are growing.

- So you are the person who can say exactly how much it costs to build housing in Moscow?

- If we were building in an open field, I would say so. But there is also the cost of land, and the relocation of utilities, and the improvement of the territory, etc.

- How much does the box cost?

- According to our estimate and regulatory base, construction and installation works of the P-44 series (built by DSK-1) will cost 30,000 rubles per 1 sq. m.

- When you check the cost of building social housing, are there any limits? For example, if it is more than 100,000 rubles per 1 sq. m, do you recommend abandoning the construction?

- The pricing system for budget objects that I am working on is aimed at optimizing the cost of construction of all city order objects that are included in the AIP. According to the results of last year, the cost of housing construction projects that underwent state examination by us did not exceed the specified amount.

- Should all objects from the AIP undergo an examination?

- Yes. According to the results of 2013, 405 positive conclusions were issued for projects financed from the capital's budget. Of these, the largest number - 107 - were for housing and social and cultural facilities. The next largest number of positive conclusions was for the reconstruction of non-production facilities - 52, and 40 were issued for transport infrastructure. Some projects were reviewed again.

- And were there cases when you found that the estimate was exceeded by 1.5 times?

- Were.

- Can commercial structures apply to the Moscow examination?

- They are happy to do so. As a rule, they bring the project for examination without estimates.

- You keep saying that after the examination the property became cheaper. Why can't you immediately set the real price of construction?

- Counter question: what is the real price of construction and who should set it? We have a market economy, so the state pricing system has an indirect relation to the mechanism for setting the price. The price is set during the conclusion of the contract between the customer and the contractor at the competition. They need a designer who will develop the design documentation, including the estimate. To calculate the estimated cost, the rates of each type of construction and installation work are used, which together give the estimated cost of the entire facility. In fact, the estimated cost sets the maximum level of construction cost - this is, in fact, the initial maximum price of the contract. But the estimated cost of the facility, designed taking into account different technologies, can also vary.

During the examination, the project is assessed from the point of view of compliance with the requirements of technical regulations on safety, as well as from the point of view of the correctness of the calculations presented. Here, experts often identify discrepancies: incorrect application of prices, incorrect assessment of the volume of work, unjustified application of various increasing coefficients. As a result, the estimated cost is adjusted.

- After the examination, you will not return to this object?

- If there is no adjustment to the project, then no.

- Will you be calculating, for example, the Rossiya Park?

- We will check the estimated cost.

- They are planning to recreate the tundra and taiga there. I wonder how you will add up their cost?

Interview: How construction is assessed