Scandal over 376 million: the purchase of park improvement near the Palace of Pioneers was halted after a complaint from Ufa.

      The claims regarding the documentation were submitted by the Ufa construction company LLC SK "Sodeystviye," which identified several contentious provisions in the competition conditions. This concerns one of the largest landscaping projects in Kirov in recent years. According to the documentation, the contractor must transform the area near the Palace of Creativity - the Memorial: strengthen the memorial mounds, update the entrance group, install a dry fountain, video surveillance systems, and Wi-Fi Mesh, as well as carry out extensive landscaping. The initial price of the contract is 375.9 million rubles. The results of the competition were scheduled to be announced on May 27, but the procedure was temporarily halted.

      Conflict - in the evaluation criteria

      The main complaint of the applicant concerns the evaluation criteria for participants. In the documentation, the customer - KOGBU "Unified Customer" - established that companies with experience in the repair, construction, and reconstruction of roads will receive additional points. Moreover, participants are asked to confirm such experience with a permit for the commissioning of a capital construction facility. However, the subject of the procurement itself is the landscaping of the park area. In its complaint, the Ufa company points out that landscaping under the Urban Planning Code does not relate to capital construction facilities and does not require a commissioning permit. According to the applicant, this creates an advantage specifically for road contractors and limits the participation of specialized companies focused on landscaping. The applicant also refers to judicial practice, according to which experience in road construction cannot be automatically considered analogous to experience in landscaping.

      Controversial advance and prohibition on halting work

      Another block of complaints concerns the draft contract. Thus, the documentation simultaneously states that the contractor is entitled to an advance of 10%, while also stipulating a limitation: if the winner reduces the contract price by more than 25%, the advance payment is not allowed. The applicant believes that such provisions create legal uncertainty in the essential conditions of the contract. Complaints also arose regarding a clause stating that work must be carried out continuously and the parties "are not entitled to suspend the performance of work." According to the company, this contradicts Article 719 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which allows the contractor to suspend work in case of breach of obligations by the customer - for example, if documentation or access to the site is not provided on time.

      What the authorities say

      The Kirov authorities have already posted objections to the complaint and disagreed with the claims. The customer's position is that companies with experience in road construction possess the necessary equipment, resources, and are capable of performing the landscaping of the area qualitatively. Thus, officials consider the established criteria to be justified and not violating competitive legislation. The consideration of the complaint is scheduled for May 27 at the Kirov FAS. If the antimonopoly service recognizes the applicant's arguments as justified, the customer may be issued an order to make changes to the documentation. In that case, the deadlines for the competition will automatically shift. If the complaint is rejected, the procurement procedure will resume, and the authorities will be able to determine the contractor for one of the most expensive landscaping projects of this year.