MOSCOW, August 15 (RIA Novosti) - Over 70 percent of major state contracts concluded in 2011-2012 violated state procurement regulations, Russia’s public watchdog said Thursday.
The Audit Chamber report reviewed state contracts worth over 1 billion rubles ($30 million) signed between July 1, 2011 and December 31, 2012, and found competition-related procedures were violated in 70 percent of the 458 such deals inked.
This finding highlights the need for “systemic measures” to change how particularly large contracts are placed and won, the Audit Chamber said.
Some of the contracts reviewed hit “record” values in excess of 44 billion rubles, the watchdog said in a statement posted on its website Thursday.
“Over 70 percent of contracts are placed bypassing competitive procedures by making a deal with a sole supplier,” the statement said, describing the placing and implantation of contracts in this way as being in a regulatory “gray zone.”
