Ph.D. in Technical Sciences, associate professor in Department of Commerce, Samokrutova O.G.

Amur State University (Birobidzhan Branch), Russia

Use of a mixed model of procurement management for public requirements

The process of formation, placement and execution of government orders is of significant importance in the economy of the Russian Federation and its regions. Procurement Institute for public requirements is one of the directions of State participation in economic turnover. The significant importance of public procurement is due to, above all, their specific focus on satisfaction of public requirements and guarantee of its functioning.

It should be noted that each year the volumes of procurement by public orders are increasing and significant amounts of procurement carry out the task of effective placement of public orders as a priority. That’s why improvement of the Public Procurement Institute is, undoubtedly, one of the priorities of the State.

In this regard, the issues of effective planning, formation and implementation of public procurement take one of the most important places in public administration at both federal and regional levels.

In the Amur region the system of placing public orders began to form in 2002. At that time, at the federal level the process of public procurement was regulated by the Federal Law No 97-FZ, which did not affect the activities of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, and especially did not mention about municipal procurement, that put local government authorities in an awkward position. In order to fill existing gaps in the Federal legislation, local authorities had to legally regulate the organization of the public procurement system in the field. As a result, the absence of strict legal centralization gave local authorities not only, the right of legislative initiative, but the right of independent legal regulation of regional procurement.

The fundamental normative legal act of the Amur Region in the sphere of regional public procurement in the period of zeroes became the law of the Amur Region dated December 16, 2002 No 164-RL “On purchases and deliveries of production for regional public requirements”. The law regulated organizational legal relationships arising between purchasing and delivering of production, works and services for regional public requirements and defined basic rights and obligations arising between a regional public customer and a supplier in the procurement process. The purpose of the law was to ensure maximum economy and efficiency of public procurement, to expand and encourage participation of local producers in procurement, to develop fair trading, to achieve maximum transparency in the use of budgetary funds, and improve organizational structures of the public procurement management.

In order to control and regulate procurement processes, there was a necessity to establish an authorized body. According to the Decree of the Governor of the Amur Region dated October 3, 2003, No. 652-d “On approval of the Provision on Management of Prices and Government Purchasing of the Amur Region Administration” the Provision of Public Orders Government was approved. In accordance with the adopted Provision and Law No 164-RL, the Government was an authorized body of the Administration of Cross-sectoral Coordination in the sphere of purchasing of products for regional requirements and carried out the functions of formation of public orders, elaboration of documentation for trade procedures, organization of orders placing processes.

Thus, the Government was a centralized authority which regulated and supervised the whole process of purchasing from the formation of a regional order and to drawing up a report on procurement.

The transitional moment in the public procurement system has been the entry into legal force of the Federal Law No. 94-FL «On placing of orders for supplies of goods, the performance of work and the rendering of services for state and municipal requirements”. This Law has introduced a unified system of public procurement throughout the Russian Federation. For the Amur Region, this transition was accomplished with minimal changes, as the Law No 164-RL formed an identical government procurement management system. The Public Orders Government of the Amur Region centrally carries out monitoring and procurement planning, forms the competitive (auction) commissions, determines their content, carries out examination of a primary (maximum) contracts price, affirms competition (auction) documentation, conducts trade procedures: an open competition and a public tender in electronic form , posts on a website the information of tendering, monitors regional customers. At the same time, certain functions for placing public orders are assigned to customers as budget holders, they determine a subject and conditions of purchase, form a technical task, file an application for placing an order and conduct simple procedures as a request for price quotations, purchase from a single provider. This can be seen as a part of decentralization.

Thus, at present the structure of executive bodies and local governments for regulating and organizing the process of public procurement includes, alternating, forms of centralized and decentralized control (a mixed model). The management model is dominated by centralized purchasing, the percentage of which is increasing annually. In 2011, this figure was 86.2% of the total number of orders. Both centralized and decentralized purchases go through the following stages the planning; placement, execution, and monitoring of public contracts at the authorized body (the Public Orders Government of the Amur Region).

This model of management has allowed not only to organize procedural stages with the least number of mistakes, but to ensure that the planning process, despite the fact that in the Federal Law No 94-FL procurement planning process is not reflected. While planning all customers present a procurement plan to the authorized body for the next financial year (until 20 September), then specify a means of procurement and determine a maximum order value. It allows the supplier to plan their participation, and the customer to avoid problems with the use of budgetary fund.

In the Amur Region, the system of effective placement of orders is being formed through an optimum correlation of the price and the quality of purchased production.

At present, response execution for interaction functions to control the correctness of formation of prices of goods, works and services are assigned on the Department of Prices Evaluation of Public Orders Management of the Amur Region. Prices Evaluation is conducted only in regard of products purchased by the results of trades undertaken by the Government as an authorized body for placement of orders. The percentage of centralized tenders in the total volume of purchased products remains stable at a high level and, as a consequence, a volume of purchases increases annually and an initial contract price is being monitored. In 2011, this figure amounted to 80.5% (86.2% in 2010, 279.2% in 2009).

During 2011 the Government handled 5037 applications of customers that are 2.2 times higher than in 2010 (2307 applications). Reducing the percentage of applications where according to the results of examination prices are put down from 54.2% to 40% in 2010, suggests the possibility of improvement of the quality of preparation of customers in price grounding.

Initial prices of contracts in 2011 were reduced by the Government to 250.8 million rubles, in 2010 to 76.3 million rubles, in 2009 to 70.5 million rubles.

Thus, through tendering budget surplus is achieved not only by procedures results but also at the preparation stage of placing orders.

Thus, the mixed model of procurement management for public requirements in the constituent entity of the Russian Federation leads to increasing professionalism, transparency of procurement procedures and improvement of efficiency of budgetary funds application, but the centralization of procurement procedures from planning to monitoring government contracts can now be made through authorized bodies

Literature:

1.                     Samokrutova O. G. Systems of public procurement management in the Amur Region. // In the world of scientific discovery – 2011. – No 10.1(22). - P.422-434.