Software in state-owned companies of Russia

The main articles are:

• Russian State Corporation
• Procurement of state-owned companies
• Software (Russian market)
• Import substitution of software in the public sector
• National Development Goals of Russia

Software in individual state-owned companies

Sberbank

• Information technology at Sberbank

VTB

• Information technology in VTB Group

Rosatom

• Digitalization of Rosatom
• Digitalization of Rosenergoatom

Rostec

• Digitalization and IT-Business of Rostec

Gazprom

• Information Technology in Gazprom

Rosneft

• Information Technology at Rosneft

RUSSIAN RAILWAY

• Information technologies in Russian Railways

Aeroflot

• Information Technology at Aeroflot

Russian Post

• Information technologies in Russian Post

Roskosmos

• Information technology in Roscosmos

2024

Software developers opposed state-owned companies that create their own products, and do not buy them

Russian developers ON complained Ministry of Digital Development about the irrational use of budget funds. This was InfoWatch ARPP "Domestic Software" Natalia Kasperskaya announced by the President of the Civil Code and the Chairman of the Board in mid-April 2024 at the annual meeting of the association.

Worried about the work of large state-owned companies to develop software products. The creation of industrial competence centers assumed that customers would contact IT companies when developing the solutions they needed. It doesn't always happen. Spending state money on something that is already on the market is not always correct, "Kasperskaya said (quoted by Interfax).

Software manufacturers in Russia complained about the irrational use of money from the budget

According to her, large companies create software on their own, often attracting state money for these import substitution projects, which is one of the barriers that restrain the development of the Russian IT industry. The fact is that there is duplication of software products, the impossibility of using the insourcing systems of state-owned companies by other market participants is revealed, the head of InfoWatch explained.

In her opinion, it is necessary to fight with duplicate developments of state-owned companies, including not giving them money to create technologies that are already on the market. ARPP Executive Director Renat Lashin proposed limiting the insourcing development of software in state-owned companies and starting financing projects within the competence centers for the development of Russian system and application software.

Deputy Head of the Ministry of Digital Development Sergei Kuchushev at the annual meeting, the ARPP said that the fundamental factor is the creation of competitive solutions, regardless of who creates them. Industrial competence centers and competence centers for the development of Russian system and application software should interact fruitfully, he said.^[1]

Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation introduces personnel electronic document management in state-owned companies

On April 22, 2024, information appeared that the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation was expanding the project on the use of personnel electronic document management (KEDO) in the civil service. The initiative will cover state-owned companies and organizations that will have access to the Unified Information System for Managing the Personnel of the State Civil Service (UISUKS). Read more here.

The Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation has determined the timing of the transition of state-owned companies to domestic software

On January 12, 2024, the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation published guidelines for the transition of state corporations and companies with state participation to domestic software (software). We are talking about import substitution of software by foreign developers who left the Russian market due to the formed geopolitical situation.

According to the Vedomosti newspaper, the recommendations are formulated on the basis of the decree of President Vladimir Putin, who in June 2023 instructed to prepare the transition of state-owned companies to domestic software of different classes. The list of organizations covered by the requirement to introduce Russian software is regulated by government order No. 91-r of January 23, 2003: these are, in particular, state banks, an agricultural sector, telecommunications companies, as well as industrial, transport and energy enterprises.

The document of the Ministry of Digital Development assumes that state structures they should switch to Russian operating systems, office applications, antivirus programs and systems virtualizations from January 1, 2025. Domestic () database management systems DBMS must be introduced by January 1, 2026.

The timing of the final transition of companies to domestic software largely depends on the size of the digital infrastructure used and the amount of data to be migrated, taking into account the transition to domestic solutions. This is the reason for the installation of different deadlines for different classes of software, - the department notes.

The document is advisory in nature, but Yaroslav Shitsle, head of the IT&IP Dispute Resolution section of the law firm Rustam Kurmaev and Partners, believes that this is actually an instruction for the execution of a regulatory act. State-owned companies that do not switch to domestic software within the specified time frame may face difficulties in obtaining financial support.^[2]

2023

State-owned companies in the Russian Federation will be obliged to spend at least 70% of IT budgets on third-party products

In mid-December 2023, it became known that the Center for Import Substitution Competencies in the field of information and communication technologies prepared recommendations according to which Russian state-owned companies will be required to spend at least 70% of their IT budgets on software and services of third-party developers. It is assumed that this will contribute to the development of the domestic IT industry, which is important in the current geopolitical situation.

According to the Izvestia newspaper, the recommendations were agreed with the departments supervising the activities of large state-owned companies, and submitted to the Ministry of Digital Development. The new rules suggest that state-owned enterprises will be able to direct no more than 30% of their IT costs to domestic projects. The same restrictions apply to electronic products developed for the needs of government agencies. The only exceptions will be state enterprises, the tariffs for the services of which are regulated by the state, as well as organizations with a high level of investment in digital infrastructure.

The authors of the project believe that these measures will allow to allocate hundreds of billions of rubles to the development of the Russian IT industry. Money, in particular, can be used to support independent high-tech companies that create products for different sectors of the economy.

Ilya Massukh, director of the Import Substitution Competence Center, notes that the proposed measures will not create problems for the internal IT divisions of state-owned companies or structures affiliated with them. According to estimates, by the end of 2023, only 32% of budgets are spent on internal IT products of state organizations, and therefore "the establishment of a clear spending rate will practically not affect the situation." On the other hand, the Association of the Largest Consumers of Software and Equipment (KP VET) emphasizes, state corporations use solutions developed in-house due to the lack of analogues on the market. Modernization and maintenance of these products is carried out by organizations affiliated with the customer, and therefore funds are needed to pay for the relevant work.^[3]

Ministry of Digital Development: State-owned companies are required to switch to basic Russian software by January 1, 2025.

In mid-June 2023, the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation announced the need for state-owned companies to switch to basic Russian software.

The president signed an order, June 12 [2023], on a holiday, that for all state-owned companies by January 1, 2025, to ensure the total replacement of operating systems, office suites, virtualization systems, database management systems. In this sense, the KPI is quite tough. This will definitely give us additional demand, - said the head of the Ministry of Digital Development Maksut Shadayev.

According to him, this measure will help create additional demand for domestic developments. At the same time, as Interfax notes on June 17, 2023, government decisions in the form of directives to state representatives on the boards of directors of state-owned companies have not yet been published. According to the news agency, earlier the authorities prepared a directive on the transition to the predominant use of Russian software. This document provides that state-owned companies had to develop and approve relevant plans.

By June 2023, there are already many domestic IT solutions on the Russian market, but they still "make up a patchwork blanket, a kind of zoo of solutions," said Astra Linux CEO Ilya Sivtsev.

We believe that in order to achieve technological independence, first of all, it is necessary to create uniform standards for developers of infrastructure and application software, "he added (quoted by Vedomosti).

According to Ilya Sivtsev, such a problem did not arise earlier, since the solutions of Microsoft and other global corporations prevailed on the market. Andrei Cheglakov, chairman of the board of directors of the office software developer MyOffice, says that earlier the requirements for the transition to the domestic were formulated in a more general way, did not have specifics.

Now they will be simpler and more understandable to all potential clients of domestic developers. It is gratifying to see the state's efforts to form a market in terms of clarifying the rules and conditions, he added.[4]

2022

Sberbank and Rostelecom do not agree with the approach of the Ministry of Digital Development to limit the costs of state corporations for their own software development

Rostelecom and Sberbank believe that it is wrong to limit state corporations on the share of expenses they spend on in-house software development. In this vein, Boris Glazkov, vice president for strategic initiatives at Rostelecom, and Vasily Svetlov, director of the GosTech division of Sberbank, spoke at an industry forum on August 19.

The Ministry of Digital Development Maksut Shadayev previously voiced the idea of ​ ​ limiting spending on large Russian corporations on software development to 30-40%. According to the idea, this would allow restoring the bias in the IT labor market and "transferring" part of the funds to the commercial market^[5] Science^[6]

According to the director ICT Import Substitution Competence Center (CKIT) Ilya Massukh at the forum on August 19, which participated in the discussion of this idea with the Ministry of Digital Development, it follows that the decision on this was not canceled. Most likely, it will be so, he says: so that state corporations spend 30% of the money on in-house development, and the rest is purchased on the market.

Boris Glazkov from Rostelecom believes that setting a percentage bar is not the most accurate approach.

How can you justify, 30% or 35%? I personally do not understand how to count. This is some kind of political decision. I generally understand why the government and the ministry are pursuing this policy, and generally agree, because the usurpation of these resources in the bowels of state corporations or large companies, of course, does not allow the market, competitive companies and teams that do this to develop, "Glazkov believes.

At the same time, in his opinion, it is not important how much state corporations spend on internal development, but for what purposes they spend money on this. Automation, digitalization systems are a way to increase competitiveness in the market, and often companies are tedious to have their own development resource in order to more flexibly respond to market challenges, create products and services, and automate their provision so as not to lag behind competitors. And if you prohibit some companies that are trying to compete in the market from spending money on their own development, and not prohibit others, then this will deprive the first of competitive advantages.

The question is what they spend on. And here, of course, you need to draw a line. It is impossible to prohibit state-owned companies from creating their own resource pools and spending money on systems related to increasing competitiveness, with new products and services that they themselves provide on the market. And for some system-wide solutions - ERP systems, DBMS, operating systems - of course, why develop this? I believe that this should be brought out, "says Boris Glazkov.

He believes that something like GitHub is needed, where all these system-wide solutions should be folded in one way or another, and from there could be taken. Open Source or not Open Source is the second question. But the customization of these solutions, their adaptation for products and services that the state-owned company provides on the market, is the business of the state-owned company itself.

Let it decide, with the help of external development, it will do it, or with the help of internal. Often with the help of internal, not because you want to spend more money, but because you need to do it faster and have a reliable resource at hand that can be urgently taken and used in work, "explains the top manager of Rostelecom.

Vasily Svetlov from Sberbank, an IT company with a bank license, agrees with Boris Glazkov's position that it is impossible to draw a hard line and limit costs as a percentage. You need to look at the details. In Sberbank, decisions on whether to write software yourself or contact the market are made as follows, he said:

If we are specialists in this field and we want to continue to increase the expertise in it, then, of course, we take it ourselves. And if there are conditions on the market and we are not specialists in some field, for example, "1C," then why should we reinvent the wheel? Most likely, we will take a ready-made solution that is tested by time and the market, and we will use the best.

Deputy Prime Minister Chernyshenko instructed to develop a scheme for the quick replacement of foreign software in companies through accelerated depreciation

On June 23, 2022, it became known about the instructions of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko regarding the accelerated replacement of foreign software with Russian software. Ministry of Digital Development, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Economic Development will have to submit proposals by July 15, 2022 on the introduction of a special procedure for writing off depreciation or calculating accelerated depreciation of the foreign software used, which is to be replaced by domestic products.

As the representative of the apparatus of Dmitry Chernyshenko told RBC, this initiative is needed "to accelerate the introduction of new import-substituting solutions at enterprises."

To buy something new, it is necessary to accelerate the depreciation of existing, primarily foreign products, to reduce the tax burden on business, he added.

In addition, Chernyshenko instructed the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Digital Development, the Ministry of Economic Development, as well as the FAS to propose measures to increase the investment component in the structure of the electricity tariff in order to provide for "measures to import substitution of foreign software."

Natalya Bunina, an adviser to the Pen & Paper Bar Association, in a conversation with the publication noted that in mid-May 2022, the State Duma adopted in the first reading amendments to Part 2 of Art. 259-3 of the Tax Code, according to which the list of fixed assets is expanding, in respect of which taxpayers have the right to apply a special increasing coefficient to the depreciation rate. Such funds in the project include equipment from the register of Russian radioelectronic products and the right to computer programs from the register of domestic software. According to Bunina, the increasing coefficient when calculating depreciation allows buyers of equipment or software included in these registers to write off their costs faster as part of income tax expenses.^[7]

Putin forbade state-owned companies to use information security systems of unfriendly countries

The President Russia Vladimir Putin signed a decree "On additional measures to ensure." information security of the Russian Federation According to the document, which was published in early May 2022, government agencies, state-owned companies and strategic enterprises will be prohibited from using information security systems created by companies from unfriendly countries. More. here

Putin banned the purchase of foreign software for critical infrastructure

On March 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree^[8]" on measures to ensure the technological independence and security of the country's critical information infrastructure (CII), stating that:

• from March 31, 2022, customers (excluding organizations with municipal participation)procuring under the 223-FZ cannot procure a foreign one, software including as part of software and hardware systems, for the purpose of its use at the significant objects of the CII belonging to them, Russia as well as procure the services necessary for the use of this software at such objects, without coordinating the possibility of making purchases with the federal executive body authorized by the government;
• from January 1, 2025, state authorities, customers are prohibited from using foreign software at their significant CII facilities.

Read more here.

It is expected that after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, 2022 will be a turning point for state-owned companies to switch to Russian software

In 2022, it is necessary to scrap state-owned companies regarding the transition to domestic IT solutions, Ilya Massukh, director of the Center for Import Substitution in ICT, head of the information security department of the interdepartmental working group under the Ministry of Digital Development for the preparation of the draft Digital Economy program, said at a press conference on March 30. The Russian IT market is highly dependent on the state order, and soon there will be a strong tilt towards domestic decisions, Massukh said.

That's exactly what I guarantee you. We will "break" these state-owned companies, state corporations, - promised the director of the Center for Import Substitution Competencies in ICT.

He mentioned the upcoming presidential decree to all state-owned companies-objects of critical information infrastructure (CII) to stop using imported software (Vladimir Putin signed the corresponding decree later in the day).

It's time to abandon purchases of foreign software, especially since they don't sell it to you, which is very good, "Massukh said, as if referring to state-owned companies. - And an important task is to repurpose, reorient internal IT resources to stop using Western software. We must think about what Russian software will replace it.

It is necessary that state-owned companies change their mentality, he believes. After 2014, state customers first hoped that Donald Trump would come to power in the United States, and everything would work out - there would be no need to switch to domestic solutions. Then a direct directive was issued with instructions to switch to domestic until 2024. But the process was not active enough. And now "there is no time to swing," Ilya Massukh repeated Putin's famous words .

There are 1.5 years to create unique Russian solutions. According to Massukh, all software classes already have worthy Russian analogues. Russia is not Iran, with which it is sometimes compared, talking about sanctions. Our country should be compared with Europe, he is sure: Russia has a rather self-sufficient IT industry, which does not depend much on imported supplies and technologies. It's just that the use of imported solutions has been implanted since the 90s, and until 2010 there was a paradigm that a good IT specialist is a Western software tuner. Sometime since 2010, this mentality began to change, advanced domestic solutions and services began to appear.

There are no such portals as "Public services" anywhere in the world even close. The use of IT in fintech in Russia... By comparison, Europe is a Stone Age. And so on. There will be more such projects, - Ilya Massukh believes.

Ilya Massukh made his statements about state-owned companies after at the same press conference the founder of the platform Bidzaar (Bidzaar) Andrey Chernogorov (the president's son Cognitive Technologies Olga Uskova) complained about "colossal resistance" from the largest state-owned companies, which were buyers of Western IT products, to turn towards the Russian market.

The last thing they are ready to do is give orders to Russian vendors. They are looking for opportunities to continue buying Western software, demilitarize it as little as possible, fence it a little more to continue using it. It's been since 2014, every year. If someone works against the Russian IT industry, then these are the largest customers, - said Chernogorov.

Ilya Massukh, however, says that state-owned companies have already begun to change the vector. For example, on March 29 he was at Gazprom, and, according to him, no one there talks about import solutions, but wants to quickly tighten IT teams, focusing on domestic products.

And on March 31, Massukh is scheduled to meet with Russian Railways. Managers of this state-owned company once chose SAP and made it the largest SAP installation in the world, Massukh said. Many business processes are permeated by the solutions of the German vendor, and it is not easy to stop using it. But Russian Railways is working on this.

They are afraid of turning off SAP and other problems with it now in the commercial sector - companies that have nothing to do with the state.

The market goes beyond the state, it is much wider: banks, retail, etc. All faced a certain restriction on passport or origin. It so happened that if in Russia or if Russian, then you will either stop selling, or send for some additional licenses. In fact, this is economic Nazism, - said the director of the Center for Competencies in Import Substitution in the Field of ICT.

State-owned companies began to spend half as much on the purchase of DBMS

Postgres Professional On February 17, 2023, the company shared the results of a comparative analysis state procurements DBMS and supporting services (certificates for technical support, administration, migration) Russia in 2021 and 2022. The study was carried out on the basis of open data of the EIS Public Procurement platform. More. here

2021

The share of Russian software in state-owned companies turned out to be half the standards

By the end of 2021, domestic products accounted for 30-35% of the software used in Russian state-owned companies, which is about half the 50-70% figures required by a government directive.

Unfortunately, we are forced to state that the tasks that state-owned companies have set themselves have not been fulfilled, "Ilya Massukh, head of the Center for Import Substitution Competencies in ICT (CKIT), established by government decree, told RBC.

According to him, the most slowly software import substitution takes place in, VTB"" and Aeroflot- RUSSIAN RAILWAY there the share of Russian decisions is less than 10%. The highest share State is in the transport leasing company (), JSC GTLK "" and GLONASS the Crimean bank, RNKB Massukh said without specifying the shares.

He noted that the government drew conclusions on lagging and non-complying directives, and recalled that the president Russia Vladimir Putin supported the chapter's proposal to Ministry of Digital Development Maksuta Shadaeva introduce personal responsibility of company leaders for implementing the transition to domestic solutions.

So it's just that the laggards will not get off, - said the head of the Center for Competencies in Import Substitution in ICT.

According to him, many companies hoped that with the arrival of Donald Trump as president of the United States in 2016, relations between the countries would normalize and import substitution would be canceled. Then they waited for the situation to improve after his departure.

Massukh added that it was difficult for many state-owned companies to switch to Russian software, because they were used to foreign products. Financial, transportation and energy companies, which have been actively developing IT in recent decades, primarily looked at foreign solutions used by their international competitors.^[9]

Putin instructed to introduce personal responsibility for import substitution of software in state-owned companies

Following a meeting with members of the government, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a list of instructions that were published on the kremlin.ru website on November 30, 2021.

So, from May 1, 2022, the personal responsibility of the heads of state corporations, state-owned companies and organizations with state participation for the implementation of plans for the transition to domestic software should be established. In addition, by this time, targets should be set that determine the share of Russian use software included in. register of domestic software Ministry of Digital Development

Postgres Professional Deputy General Director Ivan Panchenko believes that the president's order is aimed at stimulating the import substitution process, which now often slips through. He drew attention to the fact that the effectiveness of the measures will depend on how this order will be formalized by law, as well as on the practice of law enforcement. At the same time, Ivan Panchenko, in a conversation with TAdviser, noted: despite the fact that the meeting with members of the government took place quite recently, there is already a noticeable increase in the level of interest in domestic developments.

Regardless of the measures taken, it is necessary that government agencies and state corporations are more responsible for the transition to domestic software, and not continue to use pirated foreign or Russian versions of the software, as happened, for example, as a result of the cancellation of the centralized purchase of domestic office programs for the needs of 55 FOYV, - said the General director MoyOfisDmitriy Komissarov, answering TAdviser questions.

By July 1, 2022, the government must amend the legislation establishing mandatory requirements for the predominant use of domestic software, telecommunications equipment and electronic products by subjects of the critical information infrastructure of the Russian Federation.

In addition, Vladimir Putin instructed the government to work out mechanisms for stimulating investment activities related to the introduction of domestic systems and solutions created on the basis of artificial intelligence technologies. Relevant changes to the legislation must be made by July 1, 2022.

The President also instructed in 2022-2025 to modernize 25.16 thousand branches of the Russian Post, located in remote areas, rural and hard-to-reach areas.

Putin supported the initiative to change the rules of the game in the import substitution of IT. One of the proposals is to limit internal development in state-owned companies

The Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation Maksut Shadayev, on a direct line with Russian President Vladimir Putin, drew the president's attention to the fact that the directive on the transition of state-owned companies to domestic software has not been fulfilled, and the indicators that the companies themselves laid for themselves have not been achieved. State-owned companies spent half as much on Russian software as they planned. In 2019-2020 alone, the Russian market received less than 70 billion rubles, which were announced within the framework of approved programs. In this regard, Maksut Shadayev proposed introducing personal responsibility of company leaders for failure to comply with the digital transformation programs currently approved, which should be implemented based on domestic software.

The minister recommended limiting the internal developments of state corporations, because often such expenses are unreasonable. And also introduce a requirement for the commercialization of internal developments of state corporations.

{{quote 'I oppose such a story. When a state-owned company, using its size and political weight, says that it has made, for example, the best package of engineering software, and wants to receive a state subsidy, because "it is important for the state to have its own package," we answer this: listen, there are specialized commercial companies that make and successfully sell engineering packages. No need to replace the market.

Therefore, I consider it possible for state-owned companies to conclude contracts for software development. Moreover, I advocate that they increase their expertise, create and develop production units within. But it is important that they always use the products and technologies that are on the market. They did not make analogues, and, moreover, did not enter the market with any circulation solutions. In the development market for departments of state-owned companies, they often show their effectiveness, but it is better to leave the market for commercial products and solutions to those who know how to do this, - said Maksut Shadayev in an interview with TAdviser in September 2021.}}

In addition, the minister asked for the president's help in accelerating the process of integrating the draft decree "On the transition of critical infrastructure facilities to domestic solutions" into federal legislation. According to him, the project is ready, but if you now launch a full cycle of reformatting it into changes to federal laws, then this may take a significant time.

Vladimir Putin supported Maksut Shadayev and proposed this year to submit the relevant changes to the legislation to the State Duma for consideration. He also agreed with the need to increase the level of personal responsibility of heads of state corporations for failure to fulfill plans for import substitution and digital transformation.

Maksut Shadayev in his report told Vladimir Putin about the impact of the tax maneuver on the IT development industry, including in the field of artificial intelligence (AI). According to him, after the launch of the tax maneuver for IT companies, which implies significant benefits for developers - zeroing the regional part of the profit fee and reducing the rate of insurance premiums for IT companies from 14% to 7.6% - the revenue part of the federal budget was not affected.

At the same time, for the nine months of 2021, according to Rosstat, Russian companies delivered 38% more solutions and services than in the same period a year earlier, exceeding 1.14 trillion rubles. In 2021, the Russian market is growing twice as fast as in the previous one.

Despite international sanctions, software exports are growing. For six months, according to the Central Bank, Russian companies have exported 18% more products and services than in the same period in 2020. According to the results of the first half of 2021, the volume of exports of software and services reached $2.9 billion. Following the results of nine months of the tax maneuver, we see additional tax deductions totaling 49 billion rubles. That is, benefits allowed the budget to receive additional funds.

In September 2021, the government approved the second package of measures to support the industry, which is aimed at stimulating demand for Russian developments. It is important to simplify the path for the Russian consumer.

Three tax incentive measures were agreed with the Ministry of Finance. The first is that if a company introduces Russian solutions based on AI, then it can reflect them in the expense item with a coefficient of 1.5, reducing income tax. The second provides for an accelerated process of depreciation of Russian-made PAC. Business will be able to write off domestic solutions three times faster than foreign production. The third measure provides for the possibility of introducing tax deductions by the regions for companies using Russian solutions and PAC.

The Ministry of Digital Development will ask the regions to introduce such a deduction as a priority for systems and solutions with AI, and in this matter it very much counts on the support of the president. The corresponding amendments to the tax code will be made by the Ministry of Finance by the end of 2021.

In addition to tax incentives, there is support for developers and stimulation of new developments in the field of AI. In 2020, about 200 grants worth up to 10 million rubles were allocated for startups and development groups in the field of AI. The state supports large companies through co-financing of development and the first pilot implementations. By the end of 2024, the Digital Economy program is planned to spend up to 10 billion rubles on development support.

The authorities suggested that state-owned companies import substitution of software for the Internet of Things, robotics and face recognition

On September 17, 2021, it became known that the Ministry of Digital Development had expanded the list of software that state-owned companies should be guided by when switching to the predominant use of domestic software. This follows from the order of the ministry on amending order No. 486 of September 20, 2018 "On the approval of methodological recommendations for the transition of state-owned companies to the predominant use of domestic software, including domestic office software."

According to the document, now state-owned companies should mainly choose not only system and application software, as well as databases, but also software of the Internet of Things, robotics and sensorics. The list of data analysis tools has been expanded. For example, the list includes software that processes video streams and images, including from video surveillance cameras, as well as software for 2D- and 3D scanning in order to detect images of faces. In addition, industrial software was included in the list, including product lifecycle management tools, universal computer-aided design engineering tools, engineering analysis tools, etc.

In the document of the ministry, it is recommended to switch to the predominant use of domestic software in relation to classes of programs for electronic computers (computers) and databases, the list of which is established by order of the Ministry of Digital Development dated September 22, 2020 No. 486 "On approval of the classifier of programs for computers and databases." In the previous edition, state-owned companies focused on the list in Order No. 621 of December 31, 2015^[10]

The government approved directives on the digital transformation of state-owned companies with a focus on the introduction of Russian solutions

The directives developed by the Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation were approved by the Government. The directives are aimed at increasing the efficiency of state-owned companies by introducing Russian digital solutions and stimulating import substitution. The Ministry of Digital Development announced this on April 19, 2021.

Representatives of the Russian Federation on boards of directors must initiate meetings of boards of directors within ten days to discuss the development or updating of digital transformation strategies until 2024. The strategies should be brought into line with the methodological recommendations prepared by the Ministry of Digital Development and previously approved at the Presidium of the Government Commission on Digital Development, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko.

Methodological recommendations help to assess the current level of digitalization, set a target vision and key performance indicators, provide personnel resources, create a digital transformation management system and strategy financing models, as well as form road maps. Earlier, they were tested in large Russian companies - Russian Post JSC, Russian Railways, Aeroflot PJSC, Alrosa AK, Gazprom Neft PJSC.

Strategies for the digital transformation of state-owned companies should be developed by September 1, 2021, and then agreed with the sectoral ministries and Ministry of Digital Development of Russia. In the same period, it is necessary to appoint managers responsible for digital transformation. Strategic documents should take into account the requirement of directives to increase the share of purchases of Russian digital solutions: by 2024 this figure should be at least 70% of the total amount of expenses for PO.​​

At the first stage, directives approved by the Government will apply to state-owned companies from the list approved by the Government.

​Sredi state-owned companies there are both absolute leaders in digital transformation, and those who have not yet identified this direction as a priority. The task of the directives is to scale and structure the activities of digitalization and import substitution, not only controlling companies, but also helping them with methodological recommendations, expertise and financial instruments. It is planned that by 2024 all companies will join the implementation of the directives, the share of state participation in which is 50%, - said Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko.

Directives and guidelines are tools that will help coordinate the work on the digital transformation of state-owned companies and companies with state participation. Also, the Digital Technologies project provides for financial measures to support the introduction of Russian solutions within the framework of the implementation of digital strategies, allowing to support projects totaling more than 100 billion rubles until 2024: concessional lending with a rate of 1% to 5% and leasing, - said the deputy head of the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Digital Development Maxim Parshin.

​Pochta was one of the first to take part in the Ministry of Digital Development project to test recommendations for digital transformation. The recommendations take into account the realities of the business, help to correctly select priorities, form project portfolios, switch to flexible management and a product approach in all business blocks. Thanks to the directives, state-owned companies will be able to jointly follow the path of change, exchange practices, discuss, calibrate goals, "said Mikhail Akimov, General Director of Russian Post.

Шаблон:Tsitata

Import substitution of information technologies in state-owned companies. Steeplechase. TAdviser Overview

• Import substitution of information technologies in state-owned companies. Steeplechase

2020: The Federation Council proposes to tighten the requirements for software of state-owned companies by classifying them as critical information infrastructure facilities

In early September 2020, it became known about the decision of the Federation Council to strengthen the requirements for software for state-owned companies. It is proposed to classify them as objects of critical information infrastructure (CII) on a par with government agencies and banks, and this means an accelerated transition to domestic IT solutions. Read more here.

2019

What is the reason for the low activity of state corporations in the direction of import substitution

By the end of 2019, the share of Russian products in the total volume of software used in state-owned companies was 10%. Such data were cited by Ilya Massukh, director of the Center for Competencies in Import Substitution in ICT. According to him, the state does not strive for 100%, but 60% is considered a comfortable, safe and sovereign level that allows the country to be independent in this area.

TAdviser conducted a survey of Russian experts whose companies are engaged in the development and implementation of domestic software, including in state-owned companies, and found out what is the reason for the low activity of state corporations in the field of IT import substitution and what steps should be taken for state-owned companies to intensify these processes.

Lack of developed methods for switching to domestic software

Roman Mylitsyn, Astra Linux GC Innovation Director, believes that the low activity of state corporations in the field of IT import substitution is primarily due to the lack of developed methods for switching large information systems to domestic software with calculations on the payback of this process in the medium and long term.

An important role in this direction is played by the ecosystem on the market, says Stanislav Iodkovsky, First Deputy General Director of Hi-Tech. System integrators, distributors, a whole "army" of trained specialists, from sales to technical experts of all levels, are well able to sell, implement and support solutions of international vendors. In such a situation, Russian manufacturers, in addition to the release of first-class solutions, require the allocation of resources for integration into this very ecosystem by creating laboratories, training centers, marketing, which will help increase the level of competencies and trust in the expert community, the Hi-Tech expert believes.

Insufficient financial support

According to Dmitry Ivanov, CEO of HandySoft, replacing one solution with another is always stress and significant costs for any company, including the state corporation. Therefore, such steps are taken when the old solution is outdated and does not meet current needs, or when licensing and maintenance are too expensive compared to implementation.

He believes that in order to activate the processes of switching to Russian software, the deadline for using foreign software can be determined at the legislative level in the presence of a similar Russian or phased transition plan, additional benefits for paying licenses and the cost of support services for Russian software.

His proposed measures include:

• Allocation of additional target amounts of financing to cover the costs of the transition period (possibly using special tax regimes).
• Mandatory retraining of specialists through targeted financing.
• Providing "soft mode" control over performance indicators in the transition period.

Vladimir Kokhan, Commercial Director of Digital Design, also believes that the state needs to allocate targeted funding to ensure compatibility of the most frequently used products as part of pilot projects for specific customers. He recalls that such initiatives are already being carried out: for example, work on organizing an official's workplace.

The need for prohibitive measures

To activate the processes, we need not advisory measures for transferring to domestic IT solutions, but prohibitive measures for the use of imported soft- and hardware, if there are domestic analogues, says HandySoft CEO Dmitry Ivanov.

Legislative restrictions on the purchase of foreign software in recent years, regulatory acts and direct directives to the boards of directors of the largest companies with state participation should be an incentive for the implementation of the import substitution program. However, in practice, real import substitution is rather realized by companies seeking to optimize and minimize the cost of maintaining IT infrastructure, "says Mikhail Gusev, Deputy General Director of BOSS. Personnel systems. "

Yes, there is a "Siluanov directive" obliging to switch to domestic software, but the risks of its non-fulfillment for the corporation's IT divisions are lower than the risk of system inoperability. And there are no requirements at the level of the law, since the changes were made to the 44-FZ, and not to the 223-FZ by which state corporations work, "adds Alexey Smirnov, General Director of BASEALT.

Akronis Infozashchita believes that the state should support customers who really follow the path of import substitution in every possible way.

In the process of import substitution, the key role is played by the will of the state and the actions of the regulator. Import substitution in government agencies and state-owned companies is normatively structured in different ways. If in government agencies this process is mainly regulated by Government Decree No. 1236 and is prohibitive in relation to purchases of foreign software, then for state-owned companies only recommendations have been in effect for a long time. The adopted government directives for key companies with state participation were supposed to shift the process, a lot of time was spent on coordinating import substitution plans. Now that many of them are drilled, it is necessary to create conditions for their implementation, - said Elena Bocherova, executive director of Akronis Infozashchita.

Anton Vaganov, director of ESM projects at LANIT, believes that mandatory indicators of the use of domestic software should be set, measures to control the implementation of these indicators and fines to corporations that do not comply with the law should be provided.

On the other hand, there should be a positive motivation: for example, a reduction in the tax burden for corporations using Russian software. In addition, close contact with vendors is needed, creating economic conditions for Russian developers, because they have to invest a lot of long-term investments in order to create software from scratch, which has been developing in the West for many years, "notes Anton Vaganov.

Mikhail Gusev recalls that in addition to legislative measures, the expert council on software, by its protocol, essentially introduced a very strict restriction on the possibility of using foreign DBMS and platforms in domestic software. However, this may lead to the fact that new risks loom before state customers - to choose not from the best domestic programs, but only from those that will remain in the pretty "lost weight" Register of domestic software.

Low level of automation of state-owned companies

A significant part of state corporations was formed by absorbing previously unprofitable assets, in which there was no automation as such, and the GC did not organize end-to-end management processes, recalls Timur Akhmerov, General Director of BARS Group. Therefore, much in matters of import substitution is hindered by the fact that the automation object is not ready for this. At the same time, he believes that the modernization of the activity management system itself, the formation of requirements for IT systems is undoubtedly an internal issue of the Civil Code. And the state or IT partner will not help here.

In addition, according to Akhmerov, the implementation of import substitution is constrained by the immaturity of basic domestic solutions for managing activities, the complexity of their integration.

{{quote 'With some probability, additional funding for the development of domestic products from the state can help. It also makes sense to define more clearly which specific products should be allocated resources. At the same time, the declarative procedure for state financing may not solve the problems of the quality of Russian software, - says the general director of BARS Group. }}

Insourcer inertia

Most large state-owned companies concentrate on full and unconditional ownership of their own technologies, creating all the necessary solutions within their own circuit.

According to Leonid Tikhomirov, head of ITPS, the import substitution process often restrains the fact that, without proper competition, insourcers are often relatively inert and develop more slowly than market IT companies. It is necessary that state-owned companies cooperate more actively with independent domestic performers who need support and orders.

"Sensitive" legislative field

State corporations, like any government agencies, have features in which the reliability of an IT solution has the highest priority. State bodies work in a very "sensitive" legislative field, which puts information protection at the forefront.

There are many different stages of coordination. In turn, their passage time is much longer than in the commercial segment of the market. An effective solution here is to create test sites in various areas of industry with reduced safety requirements for the sake of accelerating implementation. The practice of business incubators, which is used by state corporations that allow small teams to effectively interact with state corporations and solve various problems more and more efficiently, also helps, "said Sergei Kuznetsov, CEO of Unidata.

The need for Russian software that surpasses foreign counterparts

In state corporations, not only general accounting processes are tied to information systems, but also production, logistics, and management processes. Information systems for this have been developed and implemented for years, primarily on the basis of foreign software. Therefore, it is objectively more difficult for them to replace existing products with analogues.

In my opinion, only the gradual emergence of Russian analogues, which really exceed foreign software in functionality, level of technical support, flexibility, can change the situation. Also an important factor will be a significant decrease in the cost of implementation and subsequent ownership compared to foreign counterparts. In my opinion, legislative and restrictive measures aimed at replacing foreign software in state corporations will not work, - said Evgeny Shonov, head of the Local Software Solutions for Accounting Automation section of SKB Kontur.

Russoft Opinions and Suggestions

Valentin Makarov, President of the Russoft Association, believes that the low activity of state corporations is associated with a number of factors:

1. It is unreasonable to replace pieces of an entire IT system, since the delivery price of the remaining imported part of the IT system will cost the GC the same amount as I am the whole system (this is the business model of foreign vendors);

2. When replacing the entire IT system, the GC will definitely face compatibility problems for individual software blocks produced by different Russian manufacturers;

3. The replacement price will be extremely high, since it will include current license payments for imported software in accordance with the current contract, payments for Russian software and payment for services to fine-tune the compatibility of new software and the existing IT system;

4. The Chief information officer will have constant fear for being accused of breaching a valid contract with an import supplier through misuse of budget funds.

To solve these problems, Valentin Makarov proposes to apply "carrot and carrot" to state corporations. Firstly, according to him, it is necessary to introduce the obligation to notify the FSB or FSTEC of its intention to purchase imported software (as is done in the United States when importing software by government agencies). Secondly, to introduce an obligation within a short period (1-2 years) to form a consortium of developers who must import substitution of a large IT system, plus the obligation to purchase the IT system developed by the Consortium.

As an incentive measure, he proposes to introduce co-financing of the development by the Consortium of an IT system for import substitution by the state (development institute).

Vitaly Balanda, coordinator of the import substitution committee of NP Russoft, director of innovations at Reksoft, says that the Russoft import substitution committee is working in four main areas to get out of this situation. The first of them is the departure from point digital transformation and the gradual movement of the industry towards the formation of fully compatible package solutions. The second is Customer Development - involving customers in the formation of requirements and license policies for such packages. The next important point is the emergence of a new type of integrator companies that could provide multivendor support for single-window packages. And the latter are the creation of mechanisms for interaction with the community by regulators, the development of general mechanisms for project investment and insurance of project risks.

Other opinions

Yulia Kudryavtseva, director of strategic development at Forsyth, says that state-owned companies often have the main business processes already automated: everything is established and working.

Our experience shows that corporations use Russian software in new projects. For example, Transneft has developed software complexes based on Forsyth products to manage investment programs and projects, as well as a transport fleet. The software package provided the possibility of working with several tens of thousands of investment projects, data on which are used by several thousand employees of Transneft system organizations, - says Yulia Kudryavtseva.

According to her, many state-owned companies are now engaged in the formation of a digital transformation strategy, within the framework of which they are making attempts to combine "digitalization" and "import substitution." The formation of such a strategy requires detailed knowledge of the market of products of Russian vendors, understanding how to "assemble" complex transformation solutions from domestic technologies. At the same time, the IT market understands this difficult task of customers. The Association "Domestic Software" created the Committee for the Integration of Domestic Software and released a catalog of compatibility of solutions of Russian developers. Forsyth also actively participated in this initiative.

Today, import substitution of certain types of software in state corporations is regulated at the level of the Government of the Russian Federation. In addition, the Ministry of Communications and the Competence Center for Import Substitution in the field of information and telecommunication technologies have developed methodological recommendations for the transition of state-owned companies to the predominant use of domestic software, including domestic office software. I.e. today there is an answer to the question of how to implement the transition, as well as specific deadlines and volumes of import substitution measures that should be implemented, including by state corporations. And most of the deadlines are the end of this year, so the activity of state corporations in the field of import substitution is already high and will only grow, "said Nikolai Domukhovsky, Deputy General Director for Scientific and Technical Work of the UTSB.

In our opinion, most state corporations are actively working on import substitution in IT, both inside and in the cooperation of various state corporations. The state consistently motivates the transition of state corporations to domestic solutions, creates favorable conditions, gives benefits, subsidizes acquisitions, helps with centers that accumulate competencies. A lot of work has been done, and the main task, the main challenge is to ensure the effective operation of all adopted regulations, requirements, instructions and directives, "says Armen Kocharov, Commercial Director of MyOffice (New Cloud Technologies LLC).

Natalia Agafonova, General Director of JSC NKT (developer of P7-Office), believes that today there are a number of reasons why state-owned companies are in no hurry to switch to domestic software in full, but the main ones are three: financial, technological and legislative.

{{quote 'The first reason, of course, is financial. In this case, subsidizing state-owned companies in a targeted way for testing and purchasing domestic products would help to rectify the situation.

The second reason is technological. It consists in the unavailability of the infrastructure of state corporations for integration with domestic software. Simply using Russian software as a stand alone product is not sufficient for them to provide business processes, and most internal systems are traditionally sharpened to work with foreign software. And if in relation to FOIV in 658 Government Decree there are requirements for the need to ensure compatibility from the beginning of 2020 GIS with at least 2 products from the register of Russian software in each of the classes, then there is no such regulatory requirement for state corporations.

The third important reason is the insufficient legislative regulation of the transition of corporations to domestic software. This is expressed, for example, in the absence of an official possibility of including requirements that the software be from the register of Russian software, when the corporation conducts competitive purchases for 223-FZ. Or in the delay in the entry into force of the requirements for the pre-installation of domestic software for PCs purchased in the Russian Federation. Law No. 425-FZ will enter into force on January 1, 2021, that is, it was adopted, but de facto does not apply. The inclusion of such requirements in the law should contribute to the organic transition of corporations to domestic products (OS, office packages, antiviruses, etc.) when updating the fleet of equipment, says Natalia Agafonova.}}

Deputy Prime Minister Akimov: For 2019-2021, state-owned companies will buy Russian software for 150 billion rubles

In 2019, the expenses of state-owned companies for the purchase of Russian software will amount to more than 10 billion rubles, - said on December 25, 2019, Deputy Prime Minister Maxim Akimov at a meeting of the Presidential Council for Strategic Development and National Projects.

As the deputy chairman noted, in order to grow in 2020 the costs of state-owned companies for the purchase of domestic software up to 82 billion rubles, in 2021 - up to 150 billion rubles.

In 2019, according to Akimov, 220 thousand office Russian packages and 520 thousand antivirus applications worth more than a billion rubles were purchased for state authorities.

Among antiviruses, as the representative of Akimov specified, 80% are Kaspersky Lab software products (409 thousand licenses), 20% are Dr.Web (106 thousand licenses). Two-thirds of the purchased licenses of office packages (150 thousand units) are developed by MyOffice of MyOffice (New Cloud Technologies LLC), one-third - (70 thousand units) - P7-Office of New Communication Technologies^[11].

Ilya Massukh: State-owned companies will pay 180 billion rubles for Russian software in 2020

State-owned companies will pay 180 billion rubles for Russian software in 2020. This was announced on November 26, 2019 by Ilya Massukh, director of the Center for Competencies in Import Substitution in ICT, speaking at the conference "Anti-Sanctions. What is the benefit of import substitution in the IT sector. "

According to him, by the end of 2019, for Russian products, the total volume of software used in state-owned companies is 10%. The state does not strive for 100%, but 60% is considered a comfortable, safe and sovereign level that allows the country to be independent in this area.

At the same time, Massukh noted that Russia's dependence on foreign technological equipment is not as high as in the case of software.

State regulatory action has put this rise in addiction on hold. And this is a decent achievement. The task is to reduce dependence, switch to the use of domestic developments and equipment, - he added.

Ilya Massukh listed the main advantages and disadvantages of the import substitution policy in the field of software. He attributed the following to the disadvantages:

• lack of responsibility for its failure to comply and, as a result, inefficient spending of budget funds;
• lack of standard scalable industry solutions (fully domestic technology stacks).

Plus these:

• active technological cooperation of Russian vendors;
• growth of the domestic radio-electronic industry.

Ilya Massukh said that the directives for the transition to domestic software, which were approved in 2016, begin to work only by the end of 2019. State-owned companies realized that the government would not cancel the tasks of drawing up the relevant plans until 2021, he said.

He also added that from 2020, the purchase of foreign software in a state-owned company will become a reason for the Accounts Chamber for increased verification.^[12]

2018

State corporations obliged to switch to Russian software by 2022

On December 17, 2018, it became known about the requirements of the Russian authorities regarding the transition of the largest state-owned companies to domestic software. By 2022, Russian they should have more than half of the software.

According to Kommersant, First Deputy Prime Minister Finance Anton Siluanov approved directives for state-owned companies from list No. 91-r on the transition to the "predominant use" of Russian software products. We are talking about such companies as Aeroflot, Gazprom, Sheremetyevo, Rosneft, Russian Railways, Channel One, Rusnano, VTB, etc. Read more here.

Ilya Massukh: The transition of state-owned companies to domestic software should start this year

Orders of the Government of the Russian Federation on the transition of Russian state-owned companies to Russian software (software) will be issued in May 2018, Vesti.Ekonomika reports on April 25, 2018, citing a statement by the head of the Center for Import Substitution Competencies in the field of ICTIli Massukha. According to him, the orders have already passed interdepartmental coordination.

As you know, in February, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev instructed the Federal Property Management Agency, the Ministry of Communications and the Autonomous Non-Profit Organization "Competence Center for Import Substitution in the Field of Information and Communication Technologies" to prepare orders to state representatives on the boards of directors of state-owned companies on the preparation and approval of plans for the transition to Russian software.

The directives are quite tough in terms of switching to domestic software. We must appoint those responsible, draw up a plan, allocate funds, report once every six months, it seems. How they will work - time will tell, but they will be released in May, - RIA Novosti quotes Massukh as saying.

Orders will then be sent to representatives states in the largest state-owned companies included in the so-called "91-R list." According to Ilya Massukh, purchases of state-owned companies from this list account for approximately 70% of all purchases by government agencies.

Government agencies should purchase, first of all, Russian software, guided by the register of the Ministry of Communications. At the same time, it is allowed to purchase foreign software only if there are no Russian analogues. However, it is state-owned companies that are not ready to introduce Russian software, since they have been using foreign software for many years, Massukh noted.

Our products are mainly ready for use by Russian companies. But just state-owned companies are not ready to use them. They were taught to use Western solutions for 20-30 years, they built a whole infrastructure, they have established supplies of this infrastructure and services. And just humanly, people do not want to switch to something else, - said the head of the Center for Import Substitution Competencies in ICT.

As Ilya Massukh specified, the transition of state-owned companies to domestic software should start in 2018 with the preparation of detailed plans.

For three years, we see a clear process of transition of state-owned companies to domestic hardware and software. This should be a plan where we see that the process began in 2018, pilots in 2019, and moved in 2023, he concluded.[13]

2017: The proposal of the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications to charge state-owned companies a fee for the purchase of foreign software

On May 3, 2017, the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications proposed charging state companies for the purchase of foreign software. Thus, the department intends to stimulate the purchase of domestic products.

The fact that the Ministry of Communications is considering the possibility of collecting a special fee from state-owned companies purchasing foreign software in the presence of Russian analogues in the corresponding register, the head of the ministry Nikolai Nikiforov told reporters.

In his opinion, the compensation payment should be about 5%, and the funds raised can be sent to the Information Technology Development Fund (FRIT), created in January 2017.

I bought 100 million rubles. foreign software, be kind transfer 5 million rubles to the IT Development Fund... We believe that some measure of incentive should be a ruble. But we have to work out these proposals together with colleagues from the Ministry of  Economic Development  and Finance , - said Nikolai Nikiforov

As of May 2017, Russia has a law restricting purchases of foreign software in the event of the presence of Russian analogues in a special register, which applies only to government agencies, but not to state-owned companies.

In March 2017, Nikiforov said that such restrictions should be extended to state-owned companies, whose procurement volume is much higher than that of all government agencies. At the same time, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed that at the initial stage, the orientation to purchase domestic software should be a recommendation for state-owned companies.

Earlier, several state-owned companies, including Gazprom, ALROSA and VTB, introduced changes to the provisions on the procurement of corporations and their subsidiaries, implying the priority of Russian software in procurement, reminds Interfax, the Ministry of Telecom and Mass ^[14].

According to the draft of the Digital Economy of Russia program developed by the Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications, sent for approval by the departments at the end of April 2017, the cost share of software purchased by federal and regional authorities, state corporations and companies with state participation in 2017 will be 80%, in 2020 - should decrease to 40%, and in 2025 - up to 30%.

2016: Government decree on the priority of Russian goods, works, services in state-owned companies

September 16, 2016 Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a resolution on the priority of goods of Russian origin^[15].

The document establishes the priority of domestic goods, as well as works and services performed by Russians in relation to foreign goods and foreign workers. The decision is intended to stimulate the development of all sectors of the Russian economy, according to the explanation to the decree.

Priority is established when making purchases by state-owned companies through a tender, auction and other methods, with the exception of purchasing from a single supplier.

When holding a competition, applications with Russian goods or services that turn out to be Russian citizens are evaluated at a price reduced by 15% of the proposed participant. At the same time, the contract is concluded at a normal price.

When holding an auction, if the winner of the purchase presents an application with foreign goods or services performed by foreigners, the contract is concluded at a price reduced by 15%.

Priority is not granted if the purchase is declared invalid and the contract is concluded with the only participant in the purchase, as well as if the purchase contains proposals for the supply of only Russian or only foreign goods, the provision of services only by Russian citizens or only foreign ones.

In addition, there is no priority if in the participant's application the cost of Russian goods or services is less than 50% of the total offer price.

The resolution comes into force on January 1, 2017.

2015: Putin supported the idea of ​ ​ limiting purchases of foreign software from state-owned companies

On December 22, Vladimir Putin supported the proposal of the IT industry to limit the purchase of foreign software not only to government agencies, but also to state-owned companies. Infowatch CEO Natalya Kasperskaya, who participated in a meeting of the heads of Russian IT companies with the president at the Internet Economics 2015 forum, told Vedomosti about this. Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed to Vedomosti that Putin supported the idea and the issue would be worked out.

Earlier, the idea of ​ ​ restricting purchases by foreign ON state-owned companies was also expressed by the head Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media Nikolai Nikiforov.

The procurement of government agencies and state-owned companies for the first half of 2015 was calculated by the "National Procurement Transparency Rating" (see graph). Anton Nazarkin, chairman of the rating organizing committee, told Vedomosti that only those purchases were taken into account in the name of which the name of the vendor was clearly indicated; it is impossible to estimate the full cost of purchases, according to him. In the second half of 2015, purchases at least doubled, Nazarkin is sure^[16].

Notes