The Public Private Partnership Initiative will replace the competition with a hunger for government funding. A major IT project was a pioneer

Last summer, a number of amendments to the law on concessions were adopted, which, according to the creators, should simplify the state financing of private initiatives, especially in the regions and for medium and small investors. While we all rested, time inevitably moved forward, and on May 1 a new procedure for concluding concession agreements came into force: now investors themselves can take the initiative of a public-private project (PPP) and launch the project without competition. A little more about the mechanism of action, problems, foreign experience and even the first swallow - a major IT project that has already taken advantage of this law, under the cut.

First about the mechanism

The financing mechanism works as follows: the investor prepares a proposal in a special form and sends an application for a draft concession agreement. Officials are given 30 days to review the project and make a decision. During this time, they must determine whether the state needs this project and whether it has the desire and resources to support it. Despite the fact that the competition is not required, other investors still have the opportunity to compete for the implementation of the project.

The mechanism that should ensure competition works as follows:

• If the project is approved on the website torgi.gov.ru, information should be posted on the content of the project and the conditions for its implementation.
• If in 45 days there are no other people who want to compete, an agreement will be concluded with the project initiator.
• If potential competitors are drawn during this time, a two-stage competition will be held in accordance with the requirements of the law on concessions. True, competitors should have not only a desire, but also at least a letter of guarantee from the bank confirming the possibility of financing at least five percent of the capital costs of the project.

Underwater rocks

According to the Ministry of Economic Development, the new mechanism of private initiative will allow launching more concessions - primarily medium and small projects at the regional level.

However, preparing a project for consideration will require a huge amount of paper work involving very narrow-minded and expensive specialists. Medium, and even more so small companies, this work will be difficult and not cheap. On the other hand, it will be practically unrealistic for our officials to qualitatively analyze, for example, a complex IT project in 30 days.

Foreign experience

In many foreign countries, mechanisms to promote private initiative already exist; they can be divided into the following:

• Swiss system. Swiss people are strict, therefore the competition is obligatory and no one has any preferences on it, including the initiator himself.
• Bonus system. Competition is required, but the initiator has an advantage. A competitor wins only if he can lower the price above a certain threshold value. Often they take 5% for it.
• Hybrid system. Competition is required. If the proposal of the initiator is more expensive than the best, less than 5 percent, then he wins. If at 5-20, then a second competition is held. If more than 20, then the competitor wins.
• Manual mode. The authorized body decides whether to hold a tender, and for each case separately.

The first sign was a breakthrough IT project in every sense !

It is difficult to say whether the initiative will work to stimulate private activity in the regions, but investors interested in large projects at the federal level have already appreciated the opportunities it provides. Moreover, but the holidays did not have time to pass, and the first draft under this law was already awaiting investment. Amazing efficiency in implementing the economic block of laws from our Duma!

It is especially encouraging that a project in the field of the IT sphere itself and electronic equipment by the development of which I earn a living for its implementation has to be developed quite a bit. I hope that all the participants of the Habrasphere will rejoice with me both for the project and for the enterprising people who organized it. They deserve to tell more about them.

We are talking about levying fares on federal highways using a structure called RTITS. For starters, only with heavy vehicles. I am sure that the project has great prospects and its creators will obviously not be limited only to trucks. Indeed, in the future it was decided to use it not just to collect payment, but also to control the movement of vehicles along federal highways. Personal vehicles are perhaps the only thing that can still move around our country almost uncontrollably. Tickets for airplanes, trains, and even long-distance bus routes have long been sold on passports. I have no doubt that our businessmen will not miss the opportunity in the framework of the development of the project with state moneyto establish control over the movement on highways and personal vehicles, combining business with pleasure - state control, personal benefit and payment of each kilometer of the road by the population, of course, exclusively for our personal good .

The idea and lobbying in the highest circles of this project belongs to Mr. Chemezov, president of Rostec. Initially, RTITS itself belonged to the state corporation Rostec (50.01%) and RT-invest, 25.01% of which is owned by the same Rostec. Initially, the government planned to select an operator at a competition in which consortia of investors with experience in similar projects abroad should participate, but the authority of Chemezov forced the government to retreat. Only one minor problem remained on the path to the project - the law required a tender.

In order to get this project out of the competition, our dear initiators decided to become pioneers in the application of the new Law on the Private Initiative and wait for May. Well, so that the initiative becomes truly private,It is difficult to call Rostec a private company. The control over RTITS was transferred to a young, but no doubt extremely talented investor, the son of Arkady Rottenberg, Igor.