Feb 3 2010
Russian Corporation of Nanotechnologies shifts to a purchasing system based on electronic commerce. The advanced mechanisms in the system will raise openness and transparency for purchases the corporation makes.
In launching the new system, RUSNANO takes another step toward reducing costs, an important step because in 2010 the corporation is expected to purchase goods and services totaling six billion rubles. More than half the purchases are for a wide variety of professional services—scientific and technological, financial, legal, patent, and production engineering assessments; marketing studies; analyses of technical equipment markets for future businesses; and legal services to structure transactions.
The Executive Board of the corporation approved a policy, Rules Governing Purchasing Activities, which facilitated the implementation of the new e-purchasing system. RUSNANO developed the policy with the involvement of leading Russian consulting companies working in this area: B2B-Center, Energoservice – Competitive Purchases, and Branan. The document establishes requirements for planning, preparation, and conduct of all types of purchasing procedures that RUSNANO employs. Priority goes to open and competitive procedures. The detailed governance of all stages of the purchasing process will significantly raise the cost-effectiveness of purchases and preclude possible errors.
All purchasing operations will go through B2B-RUSNANO, an electronic information-analysis and trade system chosen by the corporation through a competitive process. B2B-RUSNANO can handle any form of purchase, from the simplest to auctions and multi-stage tenders. This flexibility will allow RUSNANO to select its suppliers based on an aggregate index incorporating, among others, criteria of quality, terms of delivery, and price. This is particularly important to the corporation because aggregate indices filter out unprincipled service providers who use dumping and/or propose unrealistic periods for completing studies. Inasmuch as the corporation invests the state’s resources, this is vital.
The B2B-RUSNANO system is integrated into a united system of electronic trade called the B2B-Center. The center brings together more than 30 trading floors in spheres of energy, metallurgy, oil and gas, and construction as well as the state and municipal trading venue B2G-Goszakupki. Inclusion in the B2B-Center will enable RUSNANO to access the potential of a sophisticated market with more than 32,000 businesses and organizations from 70 countries worldwide and a turnover exceeding 485 billion rubles per year.
To oversee purchasing activities, the corporation has established a central commission for organizing purchasing and specialized tender committees.