MOSCOW, June 18 (Itar-Tass) —— The State Duma will debate the draft law on the federal contractor selection system in the first reading on June 20.

The draft law should replace Law No. 94 on public procurements. “Unlike now when the law on public procurements regulates the only stage of public procurements, the law on the federal contractor selection system will regulate all stages – planning, order placement, and public and municipal procurements proper, as well as subsequent stages such as control and audit. The law will also determine the liability of the parties involved in this process,” State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin said on Monday, June 18.

The draft law submitted by the federal government proposes a comprehensive approach to improving the procurement of goods, works and services for public and municipal needs when forming the federal contractor selection system. It regulates the whole procurement process: planning and forecasting public and municipal needs, forming and placing orders, implementing contracts and accepting results, monitoring, controlling and auditing.

The draft law allows a broader range of procurement methods, including two-stage tenders, tenders with limited participation, and requests for proposals. They should allow customers to take into account peculiarities of certain types of products being purchased and the situation in the market.

The draft law also introduces a simplified procedure for amending the terms of contracts and terminating them, and allows the customer to refuse to implement a contract unilaterally for clearly defined reasons. It also envisages anti-dumping measures in order to reject requests with unjustifiably low prices.

President Vladimir Putin said earlier that the existing public procurement rules do not allow professional and reliable suppliers to participate in tenders.

In his opinion, the main problem is that legislation does not say why the state makes a certain purchase.

He stressed that one of the key tasks for the Ministry of Economic Development in 2012 would be finalising the draft law on the federal contractor selection system. The system should allow the state to understand what result it will get from each purchase and how effectively budget money is used.

The Ministry of Economic Development has suggested creating one single body that would oversee public procurements.

The federal contractor selection system, worked out by the Ministry of Economic Development, should replace Federal Law No. 94 “On Public Purchases”. However the Federal Antimonopoly Service objects to some of the provisions contained in the draft law.

Public purchases in Russia will be made on the basis of the federal contractor selection system, not Federal Law No. 94 as before.

The Ministry of Economic Development has proposed to create a system of total control over government procurements all the way to the disposal of purchased items.