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20260813 111500 UTC
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[00:01:21] This is Economic Environment. Hello. The field
[00:01:25] of procurement is billions of turnovers and high
[00:01:28] corruption risks. At the same time, it is an instrument for developing
[00:01:32] competition and increasing the efficiency of the national
[00:01:35] economy. More than 80% of positions in
[00:01:38] public procurement are of domestic production. How to correctly
[00:01:42] determine a supplier and get a fair
[00:01:44] price, due to what digitalization simplifies
[00:01:48] procedures, why procurement at one's own
[00:01:51] expense also requires transparency, and who
[00:01:54] controls this area, we will discuss with experts right
[00:01:58] now.
[00:02:06] Today in our studio are experts who are well versed in procurement
[00:02:10] issues: Maxim Alishkevich,
[00:02:13] Deputy Chairman of the State Control Committee,
[00:02:17] Natalya Vasilevskaya, First Deputy Minister of Antimonopoly
[00:02:20] Regulation and Trade, Natalya Tishkevich -
[00:02:24] Deputy Director of the National Export Support Center.
[00:02:28] Dear guests, we are glad to see you in the studio of Economic Environment,
[00:02:32] today we are discussing procurement, both public
[00:02:34] procurement and procurement at one's own expense, but first
[00:02:38] let's figure out what the procurement sector
[00:02:42] in Belarus is, why it is so important
[00:02:45] from an economic point of view, and whether
[00:02:48] this system today meets the interests of the state
[00:02:52] and business? Well, the sphere of public procurement, the sphere
[00:02:55] of procurement in general, it is of course a rather
[00:02:59] important process. Including for the socio-economic development
[00:03:02] of the country, the procurement process itself is
[00:03:05] supply and demand, and
[00:03:08] of course, when there is guaranteed demand, then supply
[00:03:11] is formed quite actively, in the process
[00:03:14] of procurement, the customer
[00:03:17] meets the participant, the seller meets the buyer, mhm,
[00:03:21] of course, today they work under certain rules,
[00:03:24] in public procurement it's a bit stricter, in procurement at one's
[00:03:28] own expense it's a bit.
[00:04:30] saving state funds, and from the practice of control activities, we see
[00:04:34] that there are no serious difficulties in complying with the requirements
[00:04:37] that have been established for enterprises. I will add
[00:04:40] that if we talk about the State Control Committee, then in
[00:04:44] recent times we have set the following priority for ourselves: it is not
[00:04:48] the so-called subsequent control, when we come, look at this procurement, identify
[00:04:52] violations, punish the guilty, of course it should be there
[00:04:55] where it is needed, yes, but we have shifted towards
[00:04:58] preventive control. That is, at the stage of planning
[00:05:02] procurement, at the stage of announcing this procurement, we look at how justified it is,
[00:05:05] how correctly the maximum cost of a particular
[00:05:09] procurement is determined, how generally this procurement is necessary?
[00:07:13] we overpay two or three
[00:07:16] times due to intermediaries
[00:07:19] and other friends of yours, this
[00:07:22] is a direct increase in costs, the intermediary
[00:07:26] increases our price, taking
[00:07:30] 25-30% for himself.
[00:07:31] We need to draw a clear line
[00:07:34] separating, as you say, justified intermediation
[00:07:38] from unjustified.
[00:07:40] between justified
[00:08:42] and unjustified intermediation and what measures
[00:08:46] are being taken to systematically eradicate
[00:08:49] such phenomena? Well, the question of combating
[00:08:52] unjustified intermediation
[00:08:55] is a question that has been at the forefront for more than a day, more than a year.
[00:08:59] This question is very actively dealt with by
[00:09:02] the Ministry of Antimonopoly Regulation, our controlling bodies, and
[00:09:05] not only. At the government level, a plan
[00:09:08] of measures has been developed to eliminate unjustified
[00:09:12] intermediation in procurement, while
[00:09:16] it is almost impossible to draw such a clear line,
[00:09:19] sometimes, even reproaching our manufacturers,
[00:09:22] for why you do not go directly into procurement, we
[00:09:26] understand that somewhere logistical issues, somewhere
[00:09:29] issues of product safety sometimes it is more
[00:09:32] justified, still the participation of some intermediary, and
[00:09:36] at the same time, what to say, of course, a thousand
[00:09:40] times the head of state, speaking about the fact that we have not yet eradicated
[00:09:43] this unjustified intermediation, the action
[00:09:47] plan, which I am talking about, is approved by the government, it is strictly
[00:09:50] observed, at the forefront of this plan is still
[00:09:54] the improvement of legislation, mhm, in this
[00:09:56] regard we are working, and quite actively working, in my
[00:10:00] opinion, our transfer
[00:10:03] of single-source procurement procedures to electronic format, yesterday
[00:10:07] was exactly one year since the entry into force of our...
[00:10:10] yes, well, a simple
[00:12:25] example, one of the industrial enterprises
[00:12:28] procurement of loaders - when
[00:12:30] they started to remotely monitor then we saw the requirements
[00:12:34] for a certain type of engine, which in fact, if this
[00:12:37] procurement had taken place, it would have essentially been an imported engine and accordingly
[00:12:41] an imported loader as well. So, accordingly, such a procurement, at our
[00:12:44] insistent recommendation, was canceled and
[00:12:48] now it will be carried out again and accordingly will allow
[00:12:51] domestic producers to participate in this. that is, what difference does it make how they will be arranged,
[00:13:10] V-shaped, longitudinal, that is, these were the requirements,
[00:13:14] which again did not even imply the participation of our domestic
[00:13:18] manufacturer, that is, they discriminated against our manufacturers, and I would like
[00:13:22] to say that these requirements do not immediately say that someone
[00:13:25] has some interest, absolutely not,
[00:13:28] it just happens somewhere out of misunderstanding of the situation, somewhere
[00:13:31] they spied, took an old procurement as a template and applied it,
[00:13:35] so, for this particular procurement, it has also been canceled, a new
[00:13:39] contract has already been concluded with our domestic manufacturer, this contract is already in
[00:13:43] the process of being concluded, and the cost of procurement turned out to be
[00:13:46] not much, 6% cheaper than planned, but nevertheless it is a domestic
[00:13:50] manufacturer and cheaper, that is, this is the requirement for the subject of procurement,
[00:13:54] so, well... do I understand correctly that, in essence, with such an example, we can
[00:13:57] affirm that the State Control Committee, within its
[00:14:00] competence, solves state tasks for
[00:14:03] import substitution, that is, it suppresses
[00:14:05] such schemes, when our
[00:14:08] manufacturers are discriminated against to the extent that we have the strength
[00:14:12] and capabilities, of course we do this, remote monitoring of procurement is definitely our
[00:14:16] priority task, all employees are focused on this, that
[00:14:20] is, there is an area, which we pay special
[00:14:22] attention to at the present time, I...
[00:14:45] Well, to put it simply, in a normal, decent condition, a person will gladly drive it if someone even gives them this car.
[00:14:48] We start delving into it, cancel these procurements, well, given that these are state funds, we
[00:14:52] act strictly and there must indeed be an objective need for
[00:14:56] cars. Now, I can also comment on
[00:15:00] another area, this is construction. Here, what
[00:15:03] we paid attention to are the services of
[00:15:07] third-party organizations. Here's one of the latest examples: they are conducting
[00:15:11] procurement at their own expense, well, we also treat it as essentially public procurement, it is
[00:15:15] the money of a state enterprise. So, they are conducting
[00:15:18] procurement, the service costs 450,000 rubles, this is
[00:15:21] a construction equipment service on the site. We start delving into it.
[00:15:25] We understand that buying this equipment themselves,
[00:15:29] incurring costs for wages, for the machine operator and
[00:15:32] so on, would be less, there was such an example twice as much,
[00:15:35] of course we would cancel this procurement.
[00:18:37] normative act, which digitized these procurements, came into force
[00:18:41] only a month ago,
[00:18:43] but this, of course, will make
[00:18:47] procurements more transparent, including procurements
[00:18:49] by state enterprises, it will allow
[00:18:53] further collection of analytics,
[00:18:55] which
[00:18:58] is necessary for controlling bodies and for the authorized
[00:19:01] body to further develop this area.
[00:19:04] The system, of course, develops not
[00:19:08] only the functions that
[00:19:11] are provided for in the regulatory legal acts, but also the functionality that
[00:19:15] allows more automated, so
[00:19:18] to speak, work of customers,
[00:19:22] to facilitate the procedure for participation
[00:19:25] of enterprises, but this is developed
[00:19:28] by each platform individually, each has its own
[00:19:32] tricks and developments, but of course we
[00:19:35] are moving in this direction.
[00:21:20] Therefore, to say that
[00:21:23] transparent means long, no, I definitely disagree with
[00:21:27] that, you disagree, well, okay, let's take a specific case, for example,
[00:21:30] an economic entity needs to purchase, for example, a product or some
[00:21:34] service at the expense of, say, the republican
[00:21:38] budget, budget sources,
[00:21:40] procedures, a competitive procedure, taking into account the time for appeals,
[00:21:44] it all takes a month and a half, but what
[00:21:47] if an economic entity needs...
[00:22:50] this allows for emergency situations, these cases
[00:22:53] are provided for. To be honest, I will say
[00:22:57] that during those control measures, no one said, "You know,
[00:23:00] it takes too long." Well, if a person says that, it means they are, roughly speaking,
[00:23:04] saying that something is wrong with them if they find it long, the
[00:23:08] deadlines that we have in the law. And I would also like to add
[00:23:12] that I admit that some rough edges may appear
[00:23:15] during the implementation of legislation, as everywhere,
[00:23:18] specific cases.
[00:23:58] exclude unjustified procurements and thus increase
[00:24:01] the efficiency of using state funds. Please tell
[00:24:04] me, how many such facts are revealed, can you
[00:24:08] give figures, and how much budget
[00:24:11] funds, for example, are saved? Well, I can report on
[00:24:15] the current year, that is, since the
[00:24:18] beginning of the year. We analyzed about 4,000 procurements,
[00:24:22] this was done remotely, using information
[00:24:25] technologies, so,
[00:24:27] the amount of procurements that were canceled, specifically canceled, is
[00:24:31] 120 million. That is, I'm not saying that we saved exactly
[00:24:34] 120, but we prevented the use.
[00:24:38] Some of these procurements did not take place at all later, some
[00:24:41] took place, but already in accordance with the requirements of the law and turned out to be much
[00:24:44] cheaper than planned, that is, this figure
[00:24:47] exists, but here I will continue about
[00:24:51] procurements in terms of their excess, so to speak, yes, sometimes, unfortunately,
[00:24:54] this is present. Here
[00:24:58] is one of the last examples when we canceled such a procurement. So, in one of
[00:25:02] our institutions, the assembly hall was being renovated,
[00:25:05] so, a large assembly hall, stage
[00:25:08] equipment was being purchased for this assembly hall, it seemed
[00:25:12] that everything was normal, this equipment was needed, it cost
[00:25:15] several hundred thousand rubles. When they started to delve into what
[00:25:19] kind of equipment it was, it turned out that
[00:25:23] concerts to be held, and such a technical level was absolutely
[00:25:26] not needed for this assembly hall, accordingly, this procurement was canceled
[00:25:30] and simpler equipment was purchased
[00:25:33] that fully met the requirements.
[00:25:36] Another example of how procurements
[00:25:39] are planned, what my colleague and I were talking about, that a lot depends on planning. So, at one of the
[00:25:43] industrial enterprises, a steam boiler was purchased, it cost half a million
[00:25:47] rubles. So, a procurement is a procurement. But
[00:25:50] we had enough, so to speak, will to see what
[00:25:54] this boiler was for and where it would be installed. We went
[00:25:58] to the site, so, the boiler would be here, fueled by gas from the network?
[00:26:01] No, not from the network, well, we are making a project, then we
[00:26:05] will install it, but we know what gas networks are, it's a procedure
[00:26:09] of several years, well, maybe several years, but nevertheless it's difficult.
[00:26:12] So, if they had bought this boiler, we look at the documents,
[00:26:15] so, the tender, the warranty is 2 years
[00:26:18] from the date of delivery, so it would have stood in the warehouse safely while
[00:26:22] the networks were being designed, and even the gas workers told us that it's not a fact that
[00:26:26] gas can be brought there, because there's a nuance, this procurement would have been, they would have bought
[00:26:29] it and wouldn't have been able to put it into operation, and the warranty period.
[00:27:05] We'll take a short commercial break, after which we'll find out what innovations in
[00:27:09] the field of procurement at one's own expense should be taken into account, stay tuned.
[00:27:26] This is the economic environment, we continue to deal with
[00:27:30] procurement issues. Natalia Valeryanovna, we promised our
[00:27:33] viewers, we know that in July, amendments to
[00:27:37] the legislation regarding procurement at one's own expense came into force. Please tell
[00:27:41] us, what is their essence, what should
[00:27:44] we pay attention to, and what goals are we pursuing, I mean
[00:27:48] the state, by adjusting the rules
[00:27:50] of the game? Yes, exactly a month ago,
[00:27:54] innovations came into force,
[00:27:56] and I would say that initially Resolution 168
[00:28:00] is a single procedure that
[00:28:03] combined both the former Resolution 229, our decisions of local
[00:28:07] authorities on procurement for local organizations
[00:28:10] or institutions, and of course added
[00:28:14] novelty. We took all the best from previous
[00:28:17] acts as a basis, made
[00:28:20] a single procedure for procurement at one's own expense for
[00:28:24] organizations of republican, local level, extended
[00:28:27] the effect of this resolution to enterprises... now the composition
[00:28:31] of holdings with a state share, and for
[00:28:34] legal entities that carry out procurement at the expense of operators
[00:28:37] of resources, and it was not without
[00:28:41] innovations, and one of the innovations, which
[00:28:45] was very difficult for
[00:28:48] businesses to accept, organizations,
[00:28:50] was the reduction of the threshold value
[00:28:54] of procurement procedures to one thousand
[00:28:56] basic units, carried out at one's own expense, they went
[00:29:00] completely out of... within this threshold, that is, the
[00:29:32] threshold remained, but from under
[00:29:35] this prism of strict control
[00:29:38] have gone those goods that
[00:29:41] the enterprise will purchase for its own
[00:29:45] production, materials, components, raw materials, now
[00:29:48] we are receiving many questions about this, we
[00:29:52] all say that what refers to own production,
[00:29:55] provided for by the organization's accounting policy, please,
[00:29:58] record it on the balance sheet.
[00:30:32] what is this layer of goods that could not be bought today
[00:30:36] under the resolution, and
[00:30:39] then, together with the controlling bodies, we will simply
[00:30:42] look at it ourselves, analyze it, and draw a conclusion as to how correct
[00:30:46] this decision was. Perhaps, another innovation
[00:30:50] is similar in
[00:30:52] its algorithm of actions to the requirements
[00:30:56] for participants in procedures, they have been somewhat tightened, we also started
[00:31:00] from public procurement, mhm.
[00:31:47] provide, purchase services, or purchase equipment
[00:31:50] rental, then first of all, this equipment
[00:31:54] must be included in our Resolution No.
[00:31:56] 80, meet the requirements for production localization within
[00:32:00] the Republic of Belarus, and if there is no such equipment,
[00:32:03] this equipment is insufficiently localized,
[00:32:07] then yes, you can safely
[00:32:10] acquire these services from organizations that have
[00:32:13] other equipment, but... after coordination with the Industrial Policy
[00:32:17] Commission, well, in that way we are still moving towards
[00:32:20] showing that the more enterprises localize
[00:32:23] production in our country, the more they invest in the development
[00:32:27] of our national brand, our
[00:32:30] domestic products, the more
[00:32:33] preferences they will have not only in procurement at their
[00:32:36] own expense, but in procurement this is the right
[00:32:38] approach
[00:32:41] in general, therefore this innovation is also now
[00:32:46] perceived ambiguously, but I think that
[00:32:50] this is definitely a very correct and right step. In
[00:32:53] the legislation, it is also regulated that procurement
[00:32:56] at one's own expense includes vehicle
[00:33:00] rental, including financial leasing. The resolution
[00:33:03] provides for the transfer of all our competitive
[00:33:07] procurement procedures to electronic format. This, in my opinion,
[00:33:10] is the most important step towards transparency and
[00:33:13] efficiency.
[00:33:45] that we monitor, that is, it is not massive, I will say right away that it is still individual
[00:33:48] so-called personalities and figures, well, among the
[00:33:51] latest is a large industrial enterprise, yes,
[00:33:55] procurement of a transformer substation,
[00:33:58] 1.2 million, naturally, this procurement attracted attention, because
[00:34:02] transformers are generally made in our country and such
[00:34:05] products can be manufactured turnkey, so,
[00:34:09] what did the verification activities show when they delved deeper,
[00:34:12] that is, the market value of this.
[00:36:15] at the beginning of 2022, the state information and analytical
[00:36:19] system of state procurement was supplemented
[00:36:21] with an electronic analytical module, which allows
[00:36:24] the controlling body to.
[00:37:27] often use these tender results, what we see on
[00:37:31] the platforms and so on, they use it for
[00:37:34] primitive speculations, this is what concerns the so-called
[00:37:37] fugitives, and behind them, we understand, there are probably
[00:37:41] special services with their analytical departments and
[00:37:45] so on and so forth, what conclusions can be drawn from this, the question
[00:37:48] is rhetorical, please tell me, has
[00:37:51] the need not arisen today to, well, restrict
[00:37:55] access to sensitive information in a dosed manner? So,
[00:37:58] where is the line between useful public
[00:38:01] control and the protection of national
[00:38:04] interests? Well, in my opinion, transparency
[00:38:08] must be ensured and the publicity of procurements
[00:38:12] must be a priori, and
[00:38:14] the legislation provides for the possibility of restricting access, that
[00:38:17] is, if this information is confidential, then such
[00:38:21] information will be closed, and this is an algorithm that
[00:38:24] was used and continues to be used, well... in general,
[00:38:28] globally closing anything else, well no, I would
[00:38:31] say that after all, we
[00:38:34] do this not for, as you said, fugitives, we do this for
[00:38:38] those who are ready to develop production, ready to understand
[00:38:41] or would like to understand where to direct their gaze,
[00:38:45] where to invest money in order to develop business, so no, I am for
[00:38:49] transparency, Maxim Nikolaevich, what do you think? I think
[00:38:52] that the transparency that exists today absolutely does not
[00:38:55] harm our state, and
[00:38:59] those attacks from these unfriendly countries should not be reacted to at all.
[00:39:03] And what do you think, Natalya Viktorovna? Well, I agree
[00:39:06] with my colleagues here, because the effect of closing
[00:39:10] information about procedures will be much more negative. Dear
[00:39:13] experts, social networks are full
[00:39:17] of dubious business advice about how to participate in
[00:39:20] tenders and organize procurements, we have collected
[00:39:23] the most persistent of these stereotypes and ask you to evaluate them.
[00:39:27] In blitz mode, briefly, is it true or a myth? I will ask
[00:39:31] you questions, and you please answer, true or myth,
[00:39:34] Maxim Nikolaevich, single-source procurements are in
[00:39:38] most cases gray schemes, competitive
[00:39:41] procedures, this is 100% protection against abuses, true
[00:39:44] or myth? Well, it's a myth, that is, not in most cases, yes
[00:39:48] it happens, but to say that in most cases these are gray schemes, definitely not.
[00:39:52] Accepted. Natalya Valeryanovna, the cheapest
[00:39:54] product is always budget savings. And purchasing an expensive
[00:39:58] imported analogue is a known waste, true or myth? Well,
[00:40:02] of course, it's a myth, again, no,
[00:40:05] certainly, there are quite a lot of Belarusian goods
[00:40:09] at reasonable prices, at the same time, the purchase of an
[00:40:13] imported one is justified, myth, Natalya Viktorovna,
[00:40:16] the procurement system is too complex for beginners, participation in
[00:40:19] procedures requires a whole staff of specialized specialists, true or myth? Well,
[00:40:23] of course, it's a myth, this is generally a complex category of quality, here, as
[00:40:27] we... already said, the level
[00:40:29] of education of specialists is important, accepted. Maxim Nikolaevich,
[00:40:33] the more detailed the technical specification, the less chance for
[00:40:36] abuses and the fairer the procurement, true or
[00:40:39] myth? Here, it's also impossible to say definitively
[00:40:42] here, but there are cases when this task needs to be clarified,
[00:40:46] without this, unfortunately, in complex, especially equipment,
[00:40:50] goods, it's impossible to do without this, but when we see a complex task for a simple
[00:40:53] product, questions arise, so here, well, again.
[00:42:10] Clearly, myth accepted, Maxim Nikolaevich, excuse me, a trick
[00:42:13] question: procurements at one's own expense are hardly checked,
[00:42:16] since they are not related to spending budget funds, true or not? Well,
[00:42:20] I don't think we'll reveal a secret that in fact, procurements at one's own expense
[00:42:24] are much more closely watched, even more
[00:42:27] closely than public procurements, because there are certain requirements, somewhere even
[00:42:30] the treasury will control the transfer of payments, here enterprises are left to
[00:42:33] their own devices, so let those who
[00:42:37] think that way not relax, that it is absolutely not so.
[00:44:40] come to our studio of Bel TeleRadioCompany, we thank
[00:44:43] our guests and say goodbye to you, we wish you honest deals
[00:44:46] at fair prices, and may the economic environment be
[00:44:50] favorable for you, goodbye.
[00:46:29] I'm Lyudmila Kazak, continuing the information broadcasts.