Contradictions of Federal Law 94 to consumer rights.
The President of the Russian Federation proposed to jail those who profit from government procurement for a long time. Conscientious participants in competitions and tenders even claim that the legislation on competitions and auctions contradicts consumer rights. There are many grounds for this.
We turned to Vasily Pchela, director of the installation and implementation company Kaskad-Kompleks, to comment on the state of affairs with government procurement and the application of Federal Law No. 94.According to Vasily Nikolaevich, the established practice of applying Federal Law No. 94 in the form in which it often takes place is detrimental to the economy of not only the region, but also the country as a whole. In addition, due to the fact that the issue most often is solely about lowering the price, this in turn directly affects the quality, and the consumer organization is deprived of the right to freely choose the company that supplies the work or services — all this directly or indirectly contradicts the legal right of the consumer — the right to choose.
In any market, companies focus on the needs of customers. Commercial structures must provide the consumer with quality that is acceptable to him at a price, and the consumer must choose us, having analyzed our services, our ability to work efficiently or poorly.
He must have the right to choose, Vasily Pchela is sure.
FZ 94 deprives the consumer of this opportunity. By holding competitions, tenders, auctions or quotations, they impose on him an unknown company, which will perform the work in an unknown way.
The practice of applying FZ 94 in its current form, according to business, is damaging the economy of the region and the country.
The consumer may intuitively or, based on the documentation provided, doubt that the company will perform the work in full (and is often right), but he cannot refuse, because he received the protocol of the auction commission: «We order you to work here and receive such and such a service.»
In the meantime, customers say: «I don't want this, I want a better service, and I have a certain amount of money for this product, for this service.»
It is worth noting that the auction applications do not require the ability to check the contractor, his work experience, material, production, personnel base. All this is emasculated, the main feature remains — the price. And the consumer again faces a contradiction: «I am a consumer, but I did not choose the company, but the auction committee imposed it on me, and why should I then prove that this is a good contractor? Let him prove it himself with his work.» In addition, the customer is obliged to fulfill the conditions of the competition or prove that the service was rendered poorly, which can be very difficult, sometimes impossible, and precious time is wasted.
Entrepreneurs of various levels advocate for increased control over the conduct of tenders and a detailed analysis of participating companies. It is virtually impossible to make a product of the required quality with only one criterion, «price.»
If a company respects its employees, it cannot automatically agree to a large price reduction; it will be forced to either not pay taxes, or delay employee salaries, or use very low-quality materials.
How can the work be done if the materials themselves cost more than the amount for which the company wins a particular lot? Only unscrupulous suppliers can do this.
The public procurement system, as is well known, covers the entire state. The law needs to be improved, say entrepreneurs, but the blow should not be one-time or scattered.
The question remains open…
Many hope that soon this conflict in 94-FZ will finally be noticed, and the authorities will turn, first of all, to face themselves.
Source:
IMF Cascade Complex