Anti-cartel

2024

Competition for the development of GIS "Antikartel" for 240.8 million rubles was disrupted due to a complaint about all preparatory work in 3 days

The competition for the creation of the state information system (GIS) "Antikartel" worth ₽240,8 million was disrupted due to a complaint about the excessively tight deadlines for the implementation of preparatory work established by the organizers. This became known in August 2024. A repeated attempt to launch a project to develop a system designed to combat cartel collusion and antitrust violations has once again faced difficulties, jeopardizing the implementation of the initiative.

According to Cnews, the reason for stopping the tender was the complaint of the National Center for Informatization (NCI) LLC, one of the participants in the electronic auction. In its complaint, the company pointed out that the tender documentation contained requirements that violated the legislation on the contract system and created obstacles to participation in the tender of a wide range of applicants. The main claims were subjected to the established deadlines for the implementation of preparatory work - only three working days, which, according to the applicant, significantly limits competition and makes the execution of the contract almost impossible.

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Freepik

The complaint of NCI LLC was related to the requirements for the first stage of work on the creation of the Anticartel GIS. According to the terms of reference, the contractor had to conduct a short-term survey of processes and procedures, develop a private technical assignment, draw up a list of services to be implemented, create block diagrams and descriptions of processes, as well as propose the sequence and stage of transferring procedures to electronic form. All these tasks were required to be completed in three days, which caused outrage from the tender participants and led to the suspension of the tender procedure.

In August 2024, the public procurement page indicated that the process of determining the supplier was completed, but the contract was suspended due to the complaint.^[1]

Termination of the contract for the creation of the first stage of the system. Select a new artist

As TAdviser discovered, the FAS unilaterally terminated the state contract with ATI Consulting (Edvanced Transformation Consulting, which has been part of Rosatom State Corporation since 2022) to create the first stage of the Anti-Cartel state information system and in July 2024 announced a competition to choose a new contractor for the project. Information about this is contained on the UIS Procurement portal.

The FAS made the decision to unilaterally refuse to fulfill the contract concluded in May due to the fact that ATI Consulting did not provide the finalized results of the first stage of the project within the established time frame, follows from the published document of the FAS.

At the time of the release of the material, Rosatom could not comment on TAdviser, whether ATI Consulting agrees with the decision of the FAS and whether they plan to challenge it.

The tender for the choice of a new contractor announced the same maximum contract price as the previous time - about 241 million rubles^[2].

The work will have to be carried out in a short time. It is planned to summarize the determination of the supplier on August 8 and, according to the tender documentation, a survey of processes and procedures, the development of a private technical assignment must be completed three working days from the date of conclusion of the contract, but no later than August 23, 2024. The development of documentation and software must be carried out by October 14, 2024, and the system must be tested by December 18, 2024.

FAS begins to create GIS "Antikartel" on the basis of "GosTekha"

As TAdviser discovered, on April 27 Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) announced a competition for the creation of the first stage state of the Anti-Cartel information system. Its creation is provided for by a new five-year interdepartmental program to identify and suppress cartels, which the head approved by his order in 2024. Government of the Russian Federation Mikhail Mishustin

The maximum price that the FAS is ready to pay for work on the first stage of the system is about 241 million rubles^[3]. In 2021, the media wrote that at that time, according to the FAS digital transformation plan, the development and launch of the Antikartel system was expected to be carried out for 110 million rubles (for more details, see the block below).

As follows from the published technical assignment for the competition, GIS "Antikartel" is a set of software and technical means that ensure the automation of the process of identifying signs of cartels and other anti-competitive agreements at tenders prohibited by antimonopoly legislation through the analysis of big data, the introduction of a risk-oriented method and elements of machine learning (AI).

source = FAS

The FAS expects that GIS "Antikartel" will reduce the time and operating costs of employees of their department to search for information about the auction, to carry out an automatic analysis of 100% of procurement procedures for certain indicators of violation of antimonopoly laws. The FAS also expects budget savings due to the timely detection of violations of antitrust laws.

The system should allow daily scanning of the information of the UIS in the field of procurement about tenders and other information from information systems/databases in automatic mode and using AI elements, based on the risk-oriented method. The result will be the identification of purchases with signs of violations of antimonopoly legislation that require detailed verification, the distribution of procurement data between employees of the antimonopoly authority, taking into account their loading and specialization.

Statistics on risks and identified violations will also be collected in the breakdown of regions, industries, customers with a tabular display and on an interactive map.

The statement of work states that the assembly and deployment of the system must be ensured using the services of the production conveyor of the GosTech platform. In addition, it is necessary to provide support for virtualization and containerization technologies used as part of GosTech. The system architecture should be built using a microservice approach.

FAS plans to determine the supplier on May 17. The project executor is given a period from June 3 to October 14, 2024 to develop documentation and software, and it is necessary to test the Antikartel GIS until December 18.

Launch of anti-cartel program. A special GIS will be created for it

In March 2024, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin signed a decree approving a new five-year interdepartmental program to identify and suppress cartels and other competition-limiting agreements. Among the main areas of this initiative:

• digitalization of methods for identifying cartels, including the introduction of the state information system "Antikartel";
• improving the system of state influence on the causes and conditions contributing to the emergence of cartels, establishing the prompt exchange of information about the facts and participants of cartels between departments;
• improving the effectiveness of the mitigation or exemption procedure for those who voluntarily report an anticompetitive violation;
• organization of work to recover in court the income received as a result of violation of antitrust laws.

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Unsplash

Particular attention will be paid to the digitalization of methods to counter illegal practices, "Mikhail Mishustin emphasized during an operational meeting with Deputy Prime Ministers on March 11, 2024. - In particular, the introduction of the information system "Antikartel" is the development of domestic specialists. It will automatically identify signs of violation of antitrust laws... We expect that as a result, the effectiveness of competitive procedures and the fairness of pricing will increase.

As the press service of the Cabinet adds, the implementation of the measures of the new program will allow combining the efforts of antimonopoly and law enforcement agencies, the General Prosecutor's Office and the Investigative Committee, federal ministries and departments in the fight against cartels. The program was prepared within the framework of the presidential decree "On the Strategy for Economic Security of the Russian Federation for the Period until 2030."

Government of the Russian Federation Order of March 5, 2024 No. 512-r

2021: FAS will create an IT system to combat cartels

At the end of May 2021, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) creates an IT system to combat cartels. The new solution, using big data and artificial intelligence technologies, is called "Anti-Cartel."

This project is stated in the plan of digital transformation, to which Kommersant refers. According to the document, the launch of the analytical information system (AIS) "Antikartel" is scheduled for 2023, it is planned to spend 110 million rubles on its creation.

FAS creates IT system to fight cartels

It is planned that the system will operate on the basis of a distributed storage of big data connected into a single cluster. For automated search for possible violations of antimonopoly legislation, it is planned to introduce a screening service based on machine learning and artificial intelligence technologies.

In particular, thanks to AIS, FAS employees will be able to automate the process of identifying and proving anti-competitive agreements. Market participants themselves can also benefit from the system, who will have the opportunity to use the function of "self-testing the risk of participation" in the cartel.

Similar systems analyzing multiple Internet resources, including profiles in social networks and public procurement sites, are already operating in various companies and departments.

Experts interviewed by Kommersant believe that Antikartel can analyze the sites of companies, their profiles on social networks, commodity catalogs, public reporting, procurement sites and data that can be requested from companies at the state level as part of the implementation of AIS. Collusion will be determined both by reconciliation of price offers and market movements, and by indirect signs.

According to the head of the Institute for Internet Research Karen Ghazaryan, it is very difficult to make AIS decisions and conclusions legal in court. To do this, you will have to prepare "a large legislative regulatory framework, he said.^[4]

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