The Ministry of Digital Development signed a contract with VK for hundreds of millions of rubles for servicing automated workplaces of officials

2025: Ministry of Digital Development awarded VK a contract for hundreds of millions of rubles to service officials' automated workplaces

The Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation has signed a contract with VK VK Digital Technologies LLC, which is a member of the VK group, for servicing automated workplaces of civil servants with a maximum value of ₽680,4 million. The company will become the only contractor for procurement to maintain the functioning of communication services for 600 thousand federal and regional officials, reported in July 2025.

According to Vedomosti, the cost of services is calculated at the price of ₽24,46 for one automated workplace of a civil servant. The contract provides for the uninterrupted functioning of communication services in an isolated circuit from July 21, 2025 to November 20, 2026.

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Фото: Freepik

The representative of the Ministry of Digital Development clarified that we are talking about procurement with an indefinite volume, when the customer cannot immediately determine the exact amount of necessary work or services. In such cases, the maximum value of the contract and the price per unit of goods or services is established.

The application from the VK structure turned out to be the only one at the electronic auction. The company should provide support for a system of automated workplaces for the planned 600 thousand employees of the authorities. At the time of the conclusion of the contract, almost 60 departments were already connected to the service.

Deputy Executive Director of the Competence Center NTI for big data MSU Garnik Harutyunyan noted that VK applied at the minimum rate in order to legally fix control over the direction. Final settlements will go through additional agreements, maintenance and scaling of services.

The system of automated workplaces of civil servants was created on the basis of the corporate messenger VK Teams as part of the import substitution program for foreign services. Development began in the fall of 2021 by order of the Ministry of Ministry of Digital Development. The messenger combines correspondence, video calls, mail, calendar, cloud storage and an internal portal.^[1]

2021: Project to integrate digital services into the typical automated workplace of civil servants

VK on November 29, 2021 announced that it was integrating digital services into a typical automated workplace for civil servants. The project will be implemented on the basis of the VK Teams communication platform. A pilot launch in Ministry of Digital Development is scheduled until the end of 2021.

With the launch of digital services, civil servants will have convenient access to a single communication space. It includes a messenger with audio and video call functionality, corporate mail and a calendar with the ability to book meeting rooms and equipment, a centralized file storage, an information and news hub, an application for managing tasks and an organizational structure with the status and contacts of colleagues.

Additional features can be included in the platform. For example, build self-service services that will help automate various tasks: plan business trips, receive documents from accounting, and much more. This will reduce the volume of paper document circulation and resolve routine issues faster.

Communication services will be available on all types of devices - both mobile and desktop - whereby civil servants will be able to remotely access work applications from anywhere. In addition, the transition of departments to a single solution will increase the level of information security and reduce the risks of leaks.

"An automated workplace will give our colleagues access to modern and secure communication services, help increase transparency of work processes and employee engagement. As part of the import substitution strategy, we are taking a big step towards excluding foreign public cloud services from official communication, the use of which creates risks of leaks and loss of information, including due to the absence of any SLA, "said Konstantin Gurzov, Director of the Department for the Development of Cloud Services and Data Management of the Ministry of Digital Development.

"VK Teams serves as a single point of access to the most necessary services in modern work. Personal and group communication, video conferencing, interaction with internal services, unified access and easy file management - the solution fully covers the communication needs of employees. The automated workplace created on the basis of VK Teams will improve the efficiency of interaction both within and between different departments. By placing the service in the cloud, it will also be possible to reduce installation and update costs, "said Pavel Gontarev, Managing Director of VK Digital Technologies.

Within the framework of the current project, it is planned to connect services for federal executive bodies, the Central Election Commission and state extra-budgetary funds included in the experiment program within the framework of Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation of August 28, 2019 No. 1114. The number of users will be about 100 thousand people. In the future, all civil servants, including regional and municipal authorities and institutions, will be able to join the solution. This will ensure the same level of availability of digital tools for officials from different regions and departments.