OREANDA-NEWS  On 03 March was announced, that the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation violated the Federal Law "On State and Municipal Procurement of Goods, Works and Services". FAS Russia files a lawsuit on invalidating the concluded contract.

The case was initiated upon a petition of "PPP Iskusstvennie Sooruzhenia" Ltd.

The Petitioner stated that the Ministry of Culture had violated the law in an open tender for the services of technical and designer supervision of high-priority emergency-prevention and repair-and-restoration works, the works on adapting the sites to present-day use and improvement of the sites, included in the List of events at the cultural heritage sites for repair-and-restoration works in preparation to the 1150th anniversary of Veliky Novgorod in 2009, to be completed out of the additional funds from the federal budget.

According to the Petitioner, the Tender Commission of the Ordering Party violated its rights by unreasonably refusing to accept the Petitioner's bid on the basis of the Bids Consideration Protocol.

Having investigated the complaint, the FAS Russia's Commission established that the Tender Commission of the Ordering Party had lawfully rejected the bid of "PPP Iskusstvennie Sooruzhenia" Ltd. However, the Ordering Party unlawfully accepted the bid of "Mosstroirestavrastia" OJSC, which violated Clause 4 Part 1 Article 12 of the Federal Law "On State Procurement…" and constituted an administrative offence under Part 2 Article 7.30 of the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Violations. As a result of such actions by the Ministry of Culture, the governmental contract was signed with "Mosstroirestavrastia" OJSC as the only supplier at the original (maximum) price.

The FAS Russia's Commission did not issue a determination because the Ordering Party and "Mosstroirestavrastia" OJSC had already concluded the governmental contract.

FAS Russia, however, decided to file a lawsuit on invalidating the unlawfully signed contract, and approach the law enforcement bodies.