A new type of “professional complainers” was recorded in Khakassia

A new player in the market of “professional complainers” has recently appeared in Khakassia. Since the beginning of 2022 Khakassia FAS Administration received 14 appeals of some “public inspectors” demanding to inspect and punish state and municipal customers of the republic. This was reported by UFAS to the magazine “Competition and Law”.

How the self-named “public inspectors” act, who and what exactly they complain about, what the institutions of the republic should do to protect themselves from fines on such applications, told the head of the Khakass FAS of Russia Ksenia Lebedeva.

“Recently, we regularly receive applications from a certain public organization registered in Moscow and called “Public Control”. The complainant mainly complains about medical institutions in our republic. Namely about mistakes and violations when carrying out procurement procedures,” she says.

ROO “Public Control” (INN 7720491549) analyzes the procurements made by the institutions of the republic in 2021 and 2022. The subject of procurement is the supply of medicines, equipment, drinking water, salt, paper towels, provision of heating, water disposal, telephone service, franking of letters, etc.

FAS offices in other regions began to receive appeals from the organization in 2015.

The spectrum of attention of the Public Control ROO is systemic, repeated violations in the procurement activities of customers. These are, for example:

● lack of information in the Unified Information System in the field of procurement and in draft contracts on the accrual of fines and penalties for improper performance of the contract;
● violation of deadlines for posting documents in the Unified Information System (in particular, contracts, their amendments, information on performance);
● violation of the deadlines for acceptance of goods and untimely placement of information about this in the UIS;
● Failure to establish or violation of the terms and procedure for payment with the supplier.

By law, the customer is obliged to publish the contract in the UIS within five days from the date of its signing by the parties. The term of payment for the goods or services provided shall not exceed 15 days from the date of signing the document of acceptance by the customer and not more than 30 days in case of payment in instalments. In case of delay in delivery of goods/services, the customer shall demand contractual penalty/fines.

The mechanism of action of the “professional complainants” we are already used to is as follows: they closely monitor the data on the electronic site of procurement, scrupulously study all auction documents, follow all the steps of the customer – from the placement of the notice of purchase to the signing of the contract and placing information on its performance / non-performance. Knowing the legislation perfectly well and keeping track of its changes, complainants find flaws in the documents of customers, most often municipal ones. Then they write an appeal to the antimonopoly authority. The agency conducts an inspection, and the result is the initiation of an administrative case and the imposition of fines on the guilty officials, usually village and district administrations.

“Professional complainants” usually call customers and offer to pay them to “withdraw the complaint to the FAS. A new complainant from Moscow, on the other hand, acts differently: after contacting the service, he calls the punished customer and offers his services – “to check for the future that all documents are in order.”

“Unfortunately, there are still in our republic, and in the country as a whole, state and municipal customers who pay for these “withdrawal of complaints” or the services of “public inspectors”. But you should know: even with the withdrawal of the complaint antitrust inspectors still conduct an unscheduled inspection of the customer’s documentation, so you can’t avoid administrative responsibility. As for the payment of services, you can follow the changes in the laws on procurement, to consult with experts of the Federal Antimonopoly Service. General advice to all customers: comply with the law, do not listen and do not obey the dubious suggestions of complainers, in difficult cases, consult us, we are open to all within our competence, “– said Ksenia Lebedeva.