Federal Anti-Monopoly Service chief Igor Artemyev said Monday that the watchdog had selected five electronic trading sites that will host all tenders for state contracts beginning this year — a move aimed at stemming government corruption.
As of July 1, electronic trading sites run by Sberbank, RTS, MICEX and the Moscow and Tatarstan governments will soon become the only venues where purchases by the federal government can be made, he said.
"There was an initial list of 18 trading sites, but we selected five, and soon the St.
Petersburg Commodity Exchange will be added to this list to deal with oil purchases," he said.
Currently, tenders for state purchases are announced on several online portals and are held in person. In July, all federal orders will go through the portal Goszakupki.gov.ru, and auctions will be held on the electronic trading sites, while regional governments will have until January 2011 to transfer all their tenders onto the exchanges.
Artemyev said the online tenders would lower the number of violations and reduce corruption. He added that the system was opposed by many state officials, who said the whole system of state purchases would collapse.
The measures will naturally increase transparency, but are unlikely to make a significant dent in the corruption that takes place, said Mikhail Delyagin, head of the Institute for Globalization Studies, a think tank.
"We've seen several instances of officials buying excessive amounts of goods or services using money from the government budget, and when asked 'For what purpose?' the answer usually is 'Because we need it,'" he said.
"So, if the tenders will be carried out on a handful of electronic sites, transparency will grow, and as a result, public dislike for such purchases will increase, but not enough to make any systematic changes," he said. "As everyone pretty well knows how things are done here and is used to it."
Activists and the media have closely watched state tender web sites for signs of corruption. Vedomosti reported last week that the presidential administration had purchased $36.6 million worth of apartments from an unknown firm — a sum that works out to $5,000 per square meter. At market value, such apartments cost $3,700 to $4,600 per square meter.
Also last week, Interfax reported that the Samara regional government's representation to the federal government had purchased an insurance policy from Rosgosstrakh to protect its Mercedes-Benz S500 from volcanoes.