Conference on “Changes in legislation on procurements and application practice. Prospects for work”

The conference was devoted to problems in the implementation of current legislation on procurement after the changes that came into effect in 2018–19, taking into account the practice of application that is becoming established.

The conference drew more than 30 museums: the State Historical Museum, Museums of the Moscow Kremlin, Tretyakov Gallery, State Russian Museum, the state museum-preserves of Vladimir-Suzdal, Tsarskoye Selo and Peterhof, the Kirillo-Belozersky Museum-Preserve of History, Architecture and Art, the Tauric Chersonese Historical and Archaeological Museum Preserve, the country estate museum Ostafyevo – “The Russian Parnassus”, the ROSPHOTO museum and exhibition centre, St Isaac’s Cathedral State Museum, the Russian Ethnographical Museum, the State Museum of Leo Tolstoy, the Tula Weapons Museum, the Kalingrad Amber Museum, and more.

The gathering examined problems in the practice of applying the law and the most frequently occurring breaches in the sphere of the contract system, conflicting aspects of the application of the norms of the contract system and the norms of civil legislation, and also differing sectoral legal norms depending on what is being procured. The conference also reflected questions of the conduct of anti-corruption policy in the course of procurements made by cultural institutions.

Deputy General Director of the State Hermitage Alexei Valentinovich Bogdanov gave a welcome speech.

Also participating in the conference were representatives of the State Duma’s Culture Committee, the Saint Petersburg Administration of the Antimonopoly Service of Russia and the Administration of the Federal Treasury for Saint Petersburg.

The theoretical section was represented by Andrei Yuryevich Makovlev, Executive Director of the Russian Technology Agency, and Olga Konstantinovna Lisovenko, senior lawyer for the Institute of State Procurement. A representative of Sberbank – Automated System for Trading acquainted participants with current services on the electronic platform.

In keeping with tradition, members of staff from the State Hermitage’s contract service shed light on a number of practical issues in the application of legislation on procurement in non-standard situations caused by contradictions between normative legislation and the positions of monitoring bodies and also judicial authorities.

The conference participants expressed gratitude to the State Hermitage’s entire team for their willingness to share the museum’s own experience in the field of procurement.