A new case on breaching costing standards in construction is opened in the Kirov region

Kirov OFAS revealed signs of restricted competition on the regional market of developing and selling costing standards.

As a result of an investigation carried out by the regional antimonopoly body upon the instructions from FAS Central Office, Kirov OFAS opened a case against the “Department for State Expert Examination and Pricing in Construction” Kirov Regional State Autonomous Enterprise, the “National Association of Estimated Pricing and Costs Engineering” NGO and “INAS+” Ltd. upon elements of concluding an anticompetitive agreement (Clause 4 Article 16 of the Law “On Protection of Competition”).

Having the powers to devise regional costing standards and ensuring access to them, the “Department for State Expert Examination and Pricing in Construction” did not operate independently. The standards to determine the estimated construction costs were devised by private companies, including, “INAS+” Ltd., using budgetary funds.

The costing standards were disseminated through the “National Association of Estimated Pricing and Costs Engineering” NGO that charged a fee for databases with the standards as for objects of intellectual property.  

“Regional antimonopoly bodies continue their efforts to expose restricted access to the regional costing standards. The objective is to support competition on the markets of developing costing programs and design-and-estimate documentation”, explained the Head of FAS Anti-Cartel Department, Andrey Tenishev.

Reference:

In August 2015 FAS found that Gosstroi, the Ministry of Regional Development, Minstroi, the “Federal Centre for Pricing in Construction and Construction Materials Industry” Federal Autonomous Enterprise (“FTsTsS”), “Gosstroismeta” Ltd., , the “National Association of Estimated Pricing and Costs Engineering” NGO (“NASI”), “Stroiinformizdat” Ltd. and “Gosnormativ” Ltd. violated Article 15 of the Law “On Protection of Competition”. Then FAS instructed FAS regional offices to investigate the markets of developing and selling computer programs on creating construction estimates, developing and selling construction design-and-estimate documentation in the regions.