Favourite supplier: decision makers of audio and video conferencing try to press Mind in Sberbank

2018

onPremise

2017

A number of players of the market of the systems of an audio-and video conferencing complain that on purchases of such solutions Sberbank prescribes preference for one supplier - Mind company. On it, for example, specified TAdviser in one of the companies wishing to receive the contract of Sberbank for delivery^[1] for expansion of the system of audioconference communication which is available for it.

The bank summed up the results of qualification selection for this purchase in June, 2017, having allowed before participation two companies - Netvell and Telecommunications. To two companies - Spiritist and Telecom-Guard Sberbank refused fight for the contract since considered that their products do not correspond to a number of mandatory requirements terms of reference.

The starting price of this purchase is 99.7 million rubles. In competitive it is specified by terms of reference that by the time of purchase in Sberbank as the system of audioconference communication the solution Mind with the total number of simultaneous connections - 11,000 is used. It is required to expand it to 20,000 simultaneous connections.

Solutions of Mind are used in Sberbank since 2013

In explanations of the tender documentation Sberbank specifies that the price of tender is "the cost of expansion of a system on 9,000 ports, or complete replacement of a system with a total quantity of ports – 20,000". Proceeding from it, any participant, except delivering the solution Mind, should do delivery by volume not on 9,000, and on 20,000 simultaneous connections at the same price. According to one of the players who took notice of this contract it is commercial preference.

According to the same interlocutor of TAdviser, preference are also terms of the competitive procedure. The participant is obliged to provide the demonstration stand for testing of functional requirements within 3 days from the date of receipt of the invitation, and delivery date of licenses - 10 working days of signature date of the agreement. The supplier only of one product – that which is already available in Sberbank can meet this deadline, the respondent of TAdviser believes.

Earlier, in 2015-2016, Sberbank carried out four purchases on expansion of a system of audioconference communication at Mind directly as at the only supplier. In Sberbank at the time of the publication of material could not answer questions of TAdviser why in 2017 the bank decided to select the supplier for expansion of the system by tender, but not purchase at the only supplier.

The Mind company considers that information on existence of preferences at tenders of Sberbank is it false.

Within the open competitive procedures all participants are given the equal rights and opportunities. To the functional and technical requirements published by Sberbank satisfy at least several participants with solutions of different vendors, - the representative of Mind Andrey Kiselyov noted in a conversation with TAdviser. - Within the procurement procedure any participant has the right to ask the specifying questions, and, as far as we know, changes on the basis of requests of participants of the competitive procedure were made to technical of a task. It, certainly, is confirmation of equal competitive conditions for all vendors and partners.

In July Sberbank cancelled large - for 481 million rubles tender on delivery of software for the organization of a video conferencing (VIDEOCONFERENCING)^[2]. Then some participants considered that to all requirements specified in terms of reference there can correspond only the solution Mind. In total on participation in tender seven companies moved. Trueconf (the participant of the tender), for example, said about the suspicions that "tender was initially prepared for the specific famous supplier, though underwent several iterations, changes and transfers".

In the protocol of Sberbank the reason of canceling of tender specified "need of making changes in the technical specifications and a technique of assessment" of requests. In addition in Sberbank reported that are going to perform optimization "for the purpose of decrease in total cost of ownership and improvement of quality of the required solution".

Sberbank preferred not to comment on TAdviser a situation with purchases of the systems of an audio-and video conferencing.

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