Alexey Lavrov's interview with the «Argumenty i Fakty» newspaper at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on improving the mechanism of control over public procurement
The Ministry of Finance plans to continue improving the mechanisms of control over public procurement in order to completely eliminate possible abuses by officials, said Deputy Finance Minister of the Russian Federation Alexey Lavrov. Optimization will complement the strict requirements for transparency of public procurement already established in Russia.
"We have legally established strict requirements for transparency of all purchases. In the modern digital space, it is difficult to purchase goods with excessive consumer characteristics, it is impossible to hide anything. Each such case, of course, becomes the subject of consideration, including by the control bodies," explained Alexey Lavrov.
The Deputy Head of the Ministry of Finance stressed that transparency of public procurement is the most effective tool to prevent any abuse. "It's not just about luxury items, but, for example, they just buy the wrong thing, or the wrong quality, or at too high a price," he said.
In addition, Russia has a rationing system in the field of public procurement with clear quantitative restrictions, said Alexey Lavrov. "It is known in advance what can be bought in what volume and at what price. This applies to cars, communications equipment, and many other goods," he added.
Despite the measures already taken, the Ministry of Finance of Russia is constantly working to improve public procurement control systems. "Of course, the public procurement system allows you to effectively monitor and minimize unnecessary purchases of goods, works and services. But we see that there are issues that need to be worked out. We have plans to optimize the control system of inappropriate spending," concluded Alexey Lavrov.