INTERVIEW OF DEPUTY CHAIRMAN OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE MOSCOW REGION ALEXANDER CHUPRAKOV
1. How is the work on developing competition in the Moscow region built?
Robust efforts to develop competition are undertaken in the Moscow region, particular, under the frame of collaboration with FAS and Moscow Regional OFAS.
For several years the Competition Policy Committee of the Moscow Region, which is the authorized body for implementing the competition development standard in the region, has been doing the work, the results of which is the 2 place among all regions of Russia in 2017. In 2014, the Moscow region was on the 18 place in the ranking of the Heads of regions by the level of competition development support.
At the meeting of the State Council in April 2018, the President of the Russian Federation determined the goals and objectives for 2018-2020.
Competition development in the Russian Federation is a priority in the work of the President, the Federal Assembly, the Government the Central Bank, federal executive bodies, legislative and executive authorities in the subjects / regions and local self-government bodies.
Under the frame of the leadership strategy, a Regional Action Plan is approved for the Moscow region, several basic document s are adopted to determine the goals and objectives in order to improve the quality of goods, works, services and consumer satisfaction and develop business initiative.
Overall, the Regional Action Plan comprises over 350 measures in 58 sectors of the economy, taking into account the specifics of the work at the regional and municipal levels.
I also would like to point out that the Moscow region is on the 1 place in the Group for “Financial-and-economic centres and raw materials export-oriented regions”. Moscow, St Petersburg, Tyumen, Sakhalin and other regions also are in the same group.
2. How do you evaluate collaboration with FAS and Moscow Regional OFAS?
We are pleased to point out that the forms and methods of work with the Government of the Moscow region on developing social-and-economic potential of the region through competition are endorsed by the Federal Antimonopoly Services and public bodies of the Russian Federation.
Certainly, the achievements of the Moscow region would not be possible without close interaction with FAS and its regional unit – the Moscow Regional FAS Office, with which we have been working for many years.
At the same time, it is necessary to underline that for the past four years the Moscow Regional FAS Office has been on the 1 place among regional Offices of the Federal Antimonopoly Services.
Back in 2013 the Government of the Moscow region and the Federal Antimonopoly Services signed an Agreement to organize collaboration towards developing competition in the Moscow region and compliance with the antimonopoly law; and in October 2018 гan Agreement was signed on the basis of a working meeting of Head of FAS Igor Artemiev and the Governor of the Moscow region Andrey Vorobyov on developing competition in the Moscow region, under the frame of which we work together to fulfill the National Plan for Developing Competition in the Russian Federation.
Special attention is paid to approving and achieving the key targets for developing competition in the Moscow region.
The Moscow region organizes quarterly public discussions of the outcome of enforcement practice of the Federal Antimonopoly Service and the Office the Federal Antimonopoly Services in the Moscow region, involving the Committee as the authorized body for implementing the Competition Development Standard in the Moscow region.
3. How many key sectors of the economy are chosen in the Moscow region? What is done in the region to achieve them?
In October 2018, the Moscow region is the first among the regions of the Russian Federation coordinated with FAS and approved the key competition development targets, and in March 2019 – the Action Plan (“Road Map”) to achieve these key targets.
It must be pointed out that the recommendations on the key standard indicators are drafted by FAS to be used across the entire territory of the Russian Federation.
Due to heterogeneity of the regions in Russia determined by geographic, climatic and social-and-economic specifics of development, there was freedom to choose indicators in accord with the specifics of each region.
Thus, out of 41 recommended indicators, we have chosen 34 key targets, covering around 150 measures to support competition.
Of them:
27 indicators are already higher then the recommended minimum values and accordingly the performance targets are set in view of their further development;
7 indicators match FAS recommendations, and we put efforts to achieve them.
The Government of the Moscow region set tasks for all ministries and departments of the Moscow region to improve the number of private entities and the output (products). All this cannot be achieved without improving the conditions for business operations.
Certainly, pursuing these measures require coordinated efforts of all federal agencies, executive bodies of the Moscow region, local self-government bodies and NGOs.
4. A special block concerns municipalities. Which incentives are developed for them to support competition?
Trilateral agreements in this filed are concluded between the Authorized body for implementing the competition development standard (the Committee), the Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in the Moscow region and all municipalities (town and municipal districts) for cooperation in compiling and pursuing municipal programmes on competition support.
Under the frame of the Agreements, the Committee:
- devised a standard information report structure. Similarly to the federal competition development standards in the subjects of the Russian Federation, the Moscow region adopted a system where Heads of local self-government bodies in the Moscow region prepare informational reports on implementing the Competition Development Standard by municipalities;
- drafted recommendations on methods and means of developing competition environment at the municipal level;
- organize training events and zonal meetings;
- has drafted and introduced a system of stimulating local self-government bodies with an annual rating of municipalities in the Moscow region.
The rating is based on a broad range of indicators aimed at evaluating the quality element of the measures. The Committee awards the rating leaders (municipalities) are awarded Certificates of Merit and Recognition Letters. From 2019, the “Breakthrough of the Year” Annual Awards of Governor of the Moscow region will be established.
The practice of the Moscow region on organizing work with local self-government bodies on developing competition and introducing the Standard is praised as the best experience in competition development and an example for replicating in the regions of Russia.
5. One of the goals of the National Competition Development Plan is to support small business and increase the share of procurement from small companies. Please, explain what is done in this area.
Creating favorable conditions for business, eliminating administrative barriers, financial and property support to small and medium business is a priority in for the Government of the Moscow region and has a positive impact upon competition development in the region.
The Moscow region is one of the leaders by the number of small companies among the subjects of the Russian Federation. More than 5.5% of the total SME in Russia are registered in the Moscow region, which is corroborated by the data of the Federal Tax Service.
In 2018 over 8 700 small and medium companies involved in production and services were formed in the Moscow region.
The number of SME is increasing year-to-year on average by 7%. A positive SME trend is observed in the housing and utility sector and amenities, construction, passenger and freight transportation, trade, education, sport, leisure and entertainment.
It is facilitated by the norms of the federal law on public procurement to place at least 15% of public and municipal orders to small companies: in 2018, the figure reached 39% in the Moscow region.
In April 2018 a subsystem for Electronic store for small-scale procurement (up to 100,000 RUB and 400,000 RUB), was launched that has already provide to be an excellent trade site.
More than 7 500 ordering parties are registered in the Moscow region, both legal entities and physical persons can offer their services to them.
More than 1000 procurements and over 700 contracts are completed daily in the e-store. The projects is becoming increasingly attractive for small and medium business – over 85 000 suppliers are already registered.
In 8 months of the e-site operations, the savings on small-scale procurement reached 19% - 1.4 billion RUB.
The Moscow region is the first region in Russia that successfully implemented the project for simplifying the tender procedure for obtaining subsidies under the entrepreneurship support programme. Businessmen can file applications at all operating multifunctional centres of public and municipal services in the region.
6. In your opinion, is there any competition development example that can be extrapolated to other regions?
Certainly. Procurement digitalization practice in our region.
For five years, the Moscow region has had a Unified Automated System of Procurement Management (EASUZ). It currently comprises over 9000 ordering parties, of which around 90% are municipal ordering parties (from rural settlements to town districts). I would like to point out that operating in EASUZ is mandatory for all municipal and public customers.
In 2018, the Consolidated procurement budget was 320 billion RUB, over 400 000 contracts are concluded annually.
The stage-by-stage development of the sub-systems suit resulted in 100% digitalization.
Implementing digital technologies in the contractual system helped reach significant results. Since commissioning the system, budgetary savings have been approximately 8% annually. For example, 22 billion RUB in 2018.
EASUZ functionalities enable monitoring and control over all stages from planning to contract execution.
Subsystems are integral elements of EASUZ: Contract execution portal, as I already mentioned, in April 2018 the Electronic Store for Small-Scale Procurement (up to 100,000 RUB and 400,000 RUB) was commissioned, where already 150 000 procurements were completed in 2018.
After the document is signed, it cannot be replaced, changed, removed. The document can be corrected only through the system.
The sub-system has been in the pilot operation since June 2017. It enables current control over executing its obligation ad partum.
The figures are self-explanatory:
- the forfeit increased twofold;
- over 3 million documents per year are controlled, as per deadline, automatically;
- more than 11,000 documents are approved on the portal annually.
The expired contracts reduced from 28% in 2017 to 6% in 2018. The Moscow region is on the second position among the regions of Russia by the share of he expired contracts.