Ministry of Health failed to sue 197 million rubles from RTI Group for shortcomings in the IT system

2021: Refusal of appeal: Ministry of Health failed to sue 196.8 million rubles

In December 2021, the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal upheld the decision of the court of first instance in a lawsuit by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation to recover 196.8 million rubles from Radio Engineering and Information Systems JSC (RTI Group). The agency insisted that the company did not fulfill its obligations under the state contract to create an IT system. The court took the side of the defendant, who indicated the expiration of the statute of limitations, the case card says.

Ministry of Health failed to sue 197 million rubles from RTI Group for shortcomings in the IT system

According to the lawsuit, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation investigated the case of possible fraud in the execution of the contract. The Russian Federal Center for Forensic Expertise (RFCSE) under the Ministry of Justice concluded that the layout  of the national integration center for monitoring biological threats created under the contract does not meet either the requirements of the terms of reference or its description in the documents. The layout according to the plan was to be developed in the third stage. The cost of this stage, as indicated by the Ministry of Health, amounted to 196.8 million rubles.

It is noted that the Ministry of Health three times offered RTI Group to free eliminate the identified shortcomings, and in February 2021 demanded to return payment for the third stage of work through the court. The defendant failed to satisfy these requirements by claiming that the statute of limitations had expired. According to Art. 196 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the general statute of limitations from the moment when a person learned or should have learned about a violation of his right is three years.

The arbitral tribunal found the plaintiff's argument that he was not aware of a violation of his right at the time of signing the certificate of acceptance of the third stage work unfounded.  The court refused the Ministry of Health to satisfy the lawsuit, and the Ninth Arbitration Court of Appeal upheld this decision.^[1]

2013: Contract Award

At the end of December 2021, the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation signed a contract with JSC Radio Engineering and Information Systems (RTI) for the development of a national center for monitoring biological threats. Under the terms of the contract, the customer had to pay the contractor a total of 492 million rubles. Work was required before November 30, 2014.

Notes