25 November
Practical aspects of Russian public procurement market penetration
Starting from January 1, 2012 Belarusian legal entities will come to a new stage of participation in public procurement by means of electronic auctions both on the territory of Belarus and Russia. The most urgent issues of this participation were highlighted during the international seminar “Learning of bidding procedure on the electronic trading platform of the Russian Federation. Requirements of Article 3.1 of the Federal Law № 94-F3 dated July 21, 2005” held in Minsk on November 23, 2011. The event was organized by the National Centre for Marketing and Price Study with the participation of Sberbank – AST, CJSC. The event attracted about 300 representatives of senior staff and leading experts of major Belarusian export-oriented enterprises, representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus and Trade Mission of the Russian Federation in the Republic of Belarus.
On January 1, 2012 the Agreement on public procurement in Belarus, Russia and Kazakhstan signed by the government heads of the three states on December 9, 2010 will come into effect. In compliance with the stated document Belarusian business entities will enjoy the principle of national treatment when participating in public procurement in Russia; it means equal conditions with Russian suppliers of goods and services. And it is electronic auctions that become the main type of public procurement.
It is known that this procedure has been used for public procurement in Russia for several years already. Since January 1, 2011 open tenders in paper form has been no longer in force, and nowadays over 80 per cent of all public procurement are carried out by means of electronic auctions.
“Therefore the understanding of all particulars of auction participation procedure, knowledge of Russian legislation specific features and rules of operation on Russia’s trading platforms are essential conditions for national enterprises penetration the vast market of Russian public procurement”, Alexander Zapolski, Deputy Director of the National Centre for Marketing and Price Study noted at the seminar opening. He noted that in this regard the National Centre for Marketing and Price Study holds seminars on a regular basis.
Annual volume of Russian public procurement market makes up about 160 bln US dollars. It is evident that penetration this market serves as a good opportunity for Belarusian legal entities to boost their export. Therefore there is a need to study the procedure of electronic auctions conduct on Russia’s trading platforms. However, there is still an unsolved issue of Belarusian legal entities getting electronic seal certificates from Russian certification authorities as well as transportation of cryptographic protection facilities on the territory of the Republic of Belarus for participation in Russia’s public procurement. At present the parties are involved in this problem solution. And it means that the key point for national legal entities is to get knowledge and skills for operation on Russian electronic trading platforms.
The relevant assistance can be provided by Sberbank – AST, CJSC, one of the trading platforms operators, chosen by the Russian Government for public procurement conduct.
The Russian trading platform representatives made potential Belarusian suppliers of goods, works and services acquainted with main legislation issues of open electronic auctions conduct and practical peculiarities of operation on this official all-Russia procurement web-site and electronic trading platforms.
According to Yuliya Obalyaeva, representative of Sberbank – AST, CJSC, Russian legal entities has already appreciated the advantages of electronic auctions inclusive of benefits of electronic documents flow, confidentiality in terms of auction participants, simple and available participation in the bidding process, saving of financial resources and time for participation in the public procurement.
It is expected that by late 2011 over 200 thousand participants placing orders and about 300 thousand state contracting authorities will be registered on Sberbank – AST, CJSC electronic trading platform. About 3 thousand electronic auctions are conducted there daily. Uliana Khomutova, another representative of Sberbank – AST, CJSC, told about Russian experience of electronic auctions conduct, its specific features and scenario for Belarusian entities participation in auctions. Besides, she told about common mistakes made by Sberbank – AST, CJSC trading platform users in the process of operation.
Representatives of Belarusian enterprises and organizations were convinced that electronic bidding will contribute to fair competition development, effective cooperation between Russian and Belarusian legal entities. It is proved by the fruitful work of trading platforms in the framework of Cooperation Agreement between National Centre for Marketing and Price Study, RUE and Sberbank – AST, CJSC.
Source: National Centre for Marketing and Price Study
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