The State Duma Committee supported the exclusion of state awards from the law on public procurement

The State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, Industry, Innovative Development and Entrepreneurship at a meeting on Thursday recommended the lower house of the Russian parliament to support in the first reading the bill on the exclusion of pharmacies from the law on public procurement.
Pharmacies that will be withdrawn from the law "On the contract system in the procurement of goods, works, services to ensure state and municipal needs, will continue to operate under the law" On the procurement of goods, works, services by certain types of legal entities. "
"The draft federal law proposes to amend ... by removing from the list of state and municipal unitary enterprises, which are subject to the obligation to carry out procurement activities, be guided by the requirements of Federal Law No. 44-FZ of April 5, 2013" On the contract system in the procurement of goods, Services to ensure state and municipal needs, "state and municipal unitary enterprises that carry out pharmaceutical activities," the statement says. Note to the draft law.
One of the authors of the bill, the deputy of the "United Russia" Alexander Nosov listed the reasons for the need to exclude pharmacies from this law. Nosov pointed out that when implementing competitive procedures within the framework of this law, the main criterion for choosing a product is its price. The ban on referring to a particular brand, brand name and country of origin excludes the possibility of purchasing medicines of a high degree of effectiveness, since for one international product there are many analogues of different quality. "And it turns out, our assortment will decrease six times in these pharmacies, and secondly, we will have only the cheapest medicines," the parliamentarian said.
The deputy also noted that, according to this law, the procedure for conducting an electronic auction is 42 to 60 days. "The long term deprives these pharmacy organizations of the ability to react quickly to the emerging demand, which is especially adversely affected during epidemics or various seasonal diseases," he said. When implementing the law "On procurement of goods, works, services by certain types of legal entities", within which state pharmacies can operate, the period from the order and conclusion of the contract to the delivery of medicines is, on average, seven days, he said.
"The conclusion of a contract on a long-term basis for counterparties is sometimes impossible, which leads to refusal to participate in competitive selection and reduction of proposals for municipal and state pharmacy organizations," Nosov said. He explained that suppliers do not see benefits in long-term contracts because of price changes at the exchange rate and do not want to get on the black lists of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS).
The parliamentarian also noted a number of negative consequences for the population when closing state pharmacies that can not function unless they are excluded from the law on public procurement: the inability to purchase narcotic and psychotropic medicines by the population, the loss of state "leverage" in this area of ​​trade, including When setting the price level. Nosov added that there will be difficulties in providing medicines to the population in rural areas, since residents of such areas are provided with such goods, primarily through state-owned municipal pharmacies.