Center for Pricing in Construction. Corruption in construction: how the Federal Center of the CA contributed to it
What was shown by the audit by the Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation of the activities of the Federal Center for Pricing in Construction and Industry building materials
Our magazine alreadywrote that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev gave an order to suspend the so-called estimated standards at state construction sites. The reason is the overestimation of the estimated cost of objects, practiced by the Federal Center for Pricing in the Construction and Building Materials Industry. Today we will talk in more detail about what corruption schemes this pricing agency is accused of, and we will name the main objects, the cost of which was overstated with the participation of its previous leadership.
We must find a way out of the situation of our profession - there must be no more boxes. 
Amy Freerson: Is this a one-off project, or will you start designing all of your buildings with a robotic factory? But, for example, in Austria building sector is an indicator of economic growth. If Austria is to fire workers locally, it will create big social problems. So, what we are doing right now, we are working on research programs to avoid the social problems that can be caused by the use of robots.
Recall that the estimated standards determine what should be the cost of work on construction projects... When developing estimates for construction, designers refer to a unified federal estimate and regulatory framework, where standards for various objects are collected, and thus justify construction costs.
Issue price
Since 2004, the functions of a government agency responsible for the development and implementation of public policy and legal regulation in the field of construction, including in terms of pricing and estimated rationing, were successively transferred from Rosstroy to the Ministry of Regional Development and Gosstroy of Russia. Currently, the state policy in this area is being pursued by the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation. In Russia, two federal autonomous institutions are responsible for the development and examination of estimates. The Ministry of Construction exercises the authority for the development and examination of the estimated standards through the FAI "Federal Center for Pricing in Construction" (FCTsS) subordinate to it, the authority to conduct an examination of the design and estimate documentation- through another subordinate FAA: "Main Department of State Expertise" (by the way, the former head of "Gosexpertiza" Sergey Osmanov died in October last year at the age of 59).
People shouldn't lose their jobs. We must train them differently and teach them to understand and solve difficult decisions. This is a very difficult problem, but we have to solve it, otherwise we will have big problems. And this is the right strategy: to solve problems before problems become problems, and this is also our architectural strategy. Here is one of the most frequent, if not the most frequent, squash court questions in discussions with our clients, and our answer is always the same: it depends! Likewise, when you are trying to determine the cost of building a home, there are many elements that determine the final cost of your squash court; among other things, factors that distinguish the humble short from the larger or even the great short.
However, the very state policy in this area, according to the Accounts Chamber, leaves much to be desired. “In the presence of an objective need for state policy in matters of pricing and estimated rationing, this function has actually been lost today. This is the result of the activities of public authorities over a number of recent years", - says the auditor of the joint venture Yuri Roslyak(on the picture). As a result, in his opinion, the existing process of pricing and estimated rationing in construction leads to an increase in federal budget expenditures on capital construction and is characterized by the presence of corruption risks.
What factors determine the total cost of a squash court?
Let's look at these factors one by one, starting with the type of building.
Building type - what are the preferred solutions
The first choice when deciding to build a squash court is its location. Sometimes inexpensive rental space is available in older factories or warehouses. In this case, the available ceiling height is a factor that can cause problems. In the case of vessels intended for recreational use only, a lower height may be acceptable provided that the other characteristics of the building conform to the desired profile.Meanwhile, the construction industry is one of the most financially intensive sectors of the Russian economy. According to the joint venture, the annual expenditures of the federal budget on capital construction amount to more than 1 trillion rubles, the industry employs 218 thousand construction organizations, including 879 state, 2.8 million specialized specialists.
Other factors relate to the walls of the building. The ideal location is an empty building with well-placed pillars, offering ample space and freedom of choice in the location of the court. Such a site gives clients and their architects a lot of flexibility regarding the location of the vessels, their number and the creation of ancillary facilities such as changing rooms, bar, shop, etc. the more flexibility, the better the lanes within the center to maximize the time customers spend in the building.
While such existing buildings can often be found and converted into squash centers in urban areas of a certain size, finding the right building in the optimal location often requires new construction. Of course, this second option has the big advantage of allowing you to create everything from the start, including the height, configuration, and location of your building. In the early stages of a project, the dimensions can be adjusted to accommodate some short system. For more information, please consult us.
Small but important organ
And all this colossal volume, all this mighty power, as it turned out, practically remains outside the sphere of action of a well-thought-out state policy, and at the same time it cannot do without the services of the FCCC - a small but very important body to which state functions in this area have been transferred. His leadership at one time managed to close on itself all the issues of pricing in construction, making this structure a real monopolist in this matter.
Location of institution - does the country matter?
Your ideal building, which was once determined whether it should be built for new or for conversion, represents the second element of cost: the cost of transportation. In the latter case, your equipment will go to containers. Ultimately, the number of trucks or containers and their cost will depend on a third factor: the number of ships that will be built and their configuration.
It goes without saying that the main element that determines the cost of your project is the number of shorts you want to buy and install. This factor deserves a more detailed explanation. With our freestanding wall systems, the front wall as well as the side wall can be used on both sides. For example: for two ships installed next to each other, the client does not need two front walls and four side walls, but only two front walls and three side walls, such as a mid-side wall, will be common for both ships.
I must say that questions to the FCTsS and its head Evgeny Ermolaeva(pictured) the authorities did not appear yesterday. Most clearly, dissatisfaction with the estimated cost of the facilities being built at the expense of the state manifested itself during preparations for the Sochi Olympics, when truly astronomical sums had to be paid from the federal budget. Everyone remembers the loud price scandal of 2010, when it turned out that the installation of one Olympic pile in Sochi would cost the budget… 4 million rubles. It came down to the President and the Prime Minister. As a result, the Deputy Minister of Regional Development of the Russian Federation was recognized as the main culprit. Sergey Kruglik, who lost his chair. Further departmental reform resulted in the re-establishment of the Ministry of Construction and Housing and Utilities, and later - the Ministry of Regional Development.
This principle applies to all installations using the building system, which can significantly reduce shipping costs in the case of installations comprising several short blocks next to each other. For example: a row of 5 ships only requires 6 side walls.
Technical details - what are the elements of a great squash court?
Another factor that reduces the unit cost is the cost of transportation, since a short squash is usually more expensive than three short ones. In other words, what are the factors that affect the quality and, as a result, the price of a traditional squash court? The first element is the surface of the court. The most commonly used surfaces for squash court walls are cement or plaster, wood or glass. The type of wall being held is a key element of the price. If vessels with cement, gypsum, or precast panels are inexpensive to purchase, their active surface deteriorates rapidly, the coating is often repaired, and panels with incomplete joints tend to deform.
But with all these perturbations, the FCTsS remained intact. Many experts attribute this to the fact that Yevgeny Yermolaev had very influential patrons at the top (they will be discussed below), so all attempts to fire him were clearly fought back with the help of high-ranking intercessors. Here the principle is simple: you give me - I give you, and everyone is fine. Everyone except the country and its budget. In general, the person held his post for 11 years, having outlived six ministers who formally led him over the years. We can say that he is a long-liver, a real mastodon of the estimated kingdom. But, as they say, no matter how much the string twists ...
These additional costs overstate the bill, and the choice ends up being costly. Improved playability, wall durability and sound insulation are just three of the many benefits of this structural system. Of course, higher quality is more expensive to buy, but this additional cost is offset by significantly lower maintenance costs over the life of your vessels. The same applies to the back wall. Glass has become the standard material for the rear walls to make the sport more visible.
In general, until the "shop was closed" (more precisely, not even the entire "shop", but part of the "products" that it sells - for example, individual estimated standards for the construction of state objects), the state managed to finance a bunch of construction projects according to the estimates of the FCTsS. And the majority are just overpriced.
Cosmic overstatements
Experts of the Accounts Chamber believe that the classification of estimated standards was approved by the Gosstroy of Russia in 2012 "without any legislative basis." Nevertheless, such a “convenient” methodology for many makes it possible to use individual standards both for individual objects and for entire industries. Thus, the auditor believes Sergey Agaptsov(pictured), a “selective approach is ensured, as a result of which estimated cost construction of individual objects may increase by 20-45%. "
However, even with a glazed back wall, there are differences in the impact on tariffs. Most glass back walls require a fixture perpendicular to the back wall. The door and braces are connected to the glass back wall with brackets and other fasteners made of plastic, steel or aluminum. For more information, please visit.
If plastic is probably the cheapest choice, it is also the material that wears out most quickly, which can lead to loose fasteners and even broken windows. Steel is quite bulky and heavy, but more stable. Aluminum - lightweight and stable - ideally combines strengths the above two materials. However, it is also more expensive. Last but not least, flooring is an integral part of the cost. Typically, squash court floors are made of wood. There are two main options available: solid wood floors or floating floors.
In addition, the FCTsS, taking advantage of its monopoly position, took a lot of money for its services. According to the joint venture, the development of only two estimated standards for Rosatom and Roskosmos (for the construction of the Vostochny cosmodrome) cost taxpayers almost a billion rubles - more precisely, 944 million. some of these funds were received by commercial structures, "not alien to Mr. Ermolaev and persons associated with him." The fact is that almost all contractors were members of the non-profit organization National Association estimated pricing and cost engineering ": LLC" Center for Pricing in Construction ", CJSC" Siberian Pricing Center in Construction, Industry and Energy ", LLC" Chelinformtsentr ", LLC" Scientific and Technical Center for Estimated Rationing "," Stroyinformizdat ", LLC" Gosstroysmeta " , LLC "Gosnormata", LLC "Expert and Consulting Center in Construction". And their main distinguishing feature is that they "had signs of affiliation with the former director of the FCTsS Yevgeny Ermolaev and his wife" (Olesya Filchakova. - Ed.), the edition is sure.
Both types have their own advantages and disadvantages. Floating floors are usually the first choice in Commonwealth countries. A later development concerns the use of laminate flooring, which provides more flexibility and is more respectful of the knees and ankles of the players.
Service - what is included in the price?
Aside from the quality of your vessel as such, the last important element of cost is the level of maintenance of the installation. In other words: what is included in the price of a squash court? What should you keep in mind? The installation cost includes not only travel, room and board costs, but also the material required to unload materials from a truck or container, as well as all equipment and accessories needed to set up your squash courts.Customer does not need to purchase and donate to rent a car, take care of the placement of installers or any other element.
But, as "KP" writes, the companies had no choice, without the approval of the FCTsS not a single draft of the state order could be adopted. Naturally, all these expenses were then included in the overall estimate of the project. As the President of the Union of Cost Estimating Engineers told our magazine Pavel Goryachkin, for the development of an individual estimate, which would take into account difficult climatic conditions and other factors that would make it possible to "accelerate" the cost of the object by 20-40%, companies had to "unfasten" and "roll back". For example, the Union of Estimating Engineers at one time carried out an examination of the cost estimate for the construction of the Zenit Arena stadium on Krestovsky Island in St. Petersburg - this has not yet been built, but has already become a notorious facility, comparable in cost to several of the best stadiums in the world, together taken. And, as Pavel Goryachkin told us, even after the discovered overstatement by 60-80%, the estimate was not changed anyway.
Squash court cost - conclusion
In conclusion, each project must be reviewed individually to determine the exact price in a short time; it remains that the five main factors above determine the total cost of buying and installing your squash court. Generally speaking, in economics, the market price is formed on the basis of supply and demand. If we point and go to the sector of the economy to answer the question "How is the price of property determined?" In addition to market forces, we need to look at other key factors that determine the value of real estate.
And during the construction of the already mentioned Vostochny cosmodrome, as the audit of the Accounts Chamber showed, the estimated cost of the cosmodrome facilities was exceeded by 13.2 billion rubles, which is about 20% of the cost of all ground infrastructure facilities of the cosmodrome. By the way, according to RBC, the auditors discovered a possible affiliation between the FCTsS and the developers of the standards when checking this particular "space construction" (the state customer is Roscosmos, the general contractor is Dalspetsstroy under the Spetsstroy of Russia). Then it turned out that the estimate was "pulled up" by using inflated estimated standards. Them in just five days and 230 million rubles. developed by LLC "Gosnormata", however, this contract could not be found on the website of state purchases. According to one of the officials, the agreement with the "State Normative" provided that the standards would not only be developed, but also approved by the FCTsS, and then entered the federal register of estimated standards. This made it possible to officially use them for calculating construction estimates. The Ministry of Construction only checked the completeness of the documents when submitting, while the FTSTsS was responsible for their examination.
A particularly important factor in the pricing of real estate is its area. To assess whether a property meets the requirements in terms of both size and price per square meter, it is necessary to look at how much the square represents the built-up area of the property and the square of ideal parts that together form the total area of the dwelling. Prices for 1 square meter are different for old and new construction. When looking for a reasonable price for a real living space, don't overlook this minor feature.
The vertical position of the apartment - the floor of which is located, the total number of floors, the availability of an elevator, making it easier to access it, all this affects the cost of housing. Practice shows that apartments on the first and last floor are offered at a lower price than others.
“FCTsS did its expertise by concluding agreements on the market with its commercial structures. With the same commercial structures that carried out the initial development of the estimated standards. It was a completely closed circuit. No one was allowed there from outside. In fact, they gave an opinion on the development of those standards that they themselves developed, "- explained the source of RBC. And the representative of Spetsstroy of Russia confirmed that the documentation received in 2012 "did not fully take into account the peculiarities of the construction of such a complex object."
Physical construction of the building
The exterior of the building, the quality of construction, architectural style and other structural elements are directly related to the physical structure and the architectural and artistic appearance of the building. While they are not directly related to the use of the property, they also affect its value.
Close to business centers
Despite advances in information technology, there is still a need for personal contact in business centers. That is why areas with key transport networks close to large commercial and business centers remain the most attractive and preferred areas, which, in turn, leads to higher property prices in these areas.
The same "individual" standards were applied during the construction of another landmark object - the Primorsky Oceanarium. Recall that the contractor "Mostovik" signed a contract for its construction in 2010 and was supposed to build an oceanarium on Russky Island in time for the APEC-2012 summit. The dates of the aquarium commissioning were postponed several times, but last autumn Mostovik again failed to fulfill its next promise, not having commissioned the object by September 2014. In November, during a visit by the President Vladimir Putin the aquarium, he was assured that the object could be commissioned in 9-12 months. However, a week after this, the former owner of Mostovik Oleg Shishov and Director of the Federal State Unitary Enterprise "Directorate for the Construction and Reconstruction of Objects of Federal State Bodies" Andrey Poplavsky arrested on suspicion of fraud in the amount of almost 2 billion rubles. At the end of December, the state contract with the contractor for the construction of the oceanarium was terminated in court.
The positive impact on house prices is the closeness to good public transport... Convenience of transportation is measured by availability and regularity different types transport, travel expenses and, just as important, comfortable travel.
The fact is that a house with a great view is offered at a higher price than a house with a general view. A number of studies have shown that buyers who love landscapes are willing to pay more for properties with incredible views. Depending on the perception of people, the beauty of the landscape can be different for everyone. Some prefer the cityscape, some will be impressed by the panoramic sea view, the view of a beautiful mountain or a natural landmark. According to the quality of vision, dwellings can be divided into those that have a full view, partial or partial view.
And one more example. The cost of building a section of the Moscow metro (from the Maryino station to Zyablikovo) was estimated by the FCTsS at 4.1 billion rubles. After recalculation according to the Moscow regulatory framework, the cost turned out to be 2.1 billion rubles.
Who will steer the trillion
And what about Evgeny Ermolaev? It seems that the last pleasant event for him was the awarding of the Order of Honor for his contribution to the preparation and holding of the Sochi Olympics (for an hour not for the notorious piles? ..). And then, it seems, luck turned away from the unsinkable "emperor of estimates." At the end of last year, Evgeny Evgenievich left his post. But, apparently, he will not have to take a break from the hard work on normative and cost-accounting. The recently recreated Ministry of Construction conducted several inspections of the FTSTSS, as a result of which the department came to the conclusion that the work of the center is "ineffective, opaque and does not meet state objectives for pricing with the involvement of budgetary funds." Thus, "in the formation of the main factors of the construction price, commercial organizations were unreasonably involved, and the objectivity of their assessments raised serious questions." As the press service of the ministry explained, this was the reason for the dismissal of the head of the FCTsS, and the documents on his activities are already in the law enforcement agencies. It remains to add that the results of the inspections of the Ministry of Construction coincided with the conclusions of the Accounts Chamber and the Federal Antimonopoly Service.
According to Kommersant, at the end of January, the head of the Accounts Chamber Tatiana Golikova informed President Vladimir Putin that the FTSTSS "had preconditions for the possible use of corruption mechanisms" and that the ex-head of the FTSTSS Yevgeny Ermolaev, through the National Association of Estimated Pricing, "affiliated personally with him and his wife, has built a system of commercial organizations" developing individual and industry estimated standards.
It seems that the ex-head of the FCTsS was able to create a "sawing mechanism of a federal scale", and a number of federal officials could receive "kickbacks" from his activities, according to a number of experts. In their opinion, it is worth checking the leadership of not only the Ministry of Construction, but also the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Federal Grid Company, Rosatom and Roskosmos for involvement in the "machinations of Ermolaev". In addition, there is a version that what is on initial stage the development of "business on estimates" of Mr. Ermolaev, the then head of the Ministry of Regional Development, and now the governor of the Perm Territory, was also involved in this process Victor Basargin... It seems that it is time for his security officials to check for involvement in the "machinations of Ermolaev", experts are convinced.
According to Kommersant, having familiarized himself with the results of the audit of the joint venture, Vladimir Putin forwarded a letter from Golikova to Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev with a visa: "To consider and propose a plan for reforming the pricing system in construction." The Government should submit its proposals on this issue as soon as possible. In the meantime, as we have already reported, the estimated standards for state construction have been suspended.
According to information from the Ministry of Construction, the main change in this system will be the refusal of the participation of commercial structures in the formation of both general and individual price indices. A proposal is also being discussed in which individual indices would be calculated only by the decision of the Government and used in the implementation of truly unique construction projects.
According to an employee of the Government Office, quoted by Novaya Gazeta, the current limitation of the "area of competence" of an institution subordinate to the Ministry of Construction is "an integral part of the reform of the Ministry of Construction." Let me remind you that by the end of this spring, the Ministry of Construction will create the Federal Agency for Construction Roskapstroy, which from January 1, 2016 will be endowed with the functions of a single customer service and will take over the entire federal construction project. So, a number of observers believe that the "personal attack" on Yevgeny Yermolaev is precisely related to the distribution of seats in the future superstructure. It is possible that in this department, which will solve global problems and have all the same "partial autonomy" from the ministry, the same machinations that were in the FCTsS may be repeated, assumes a number of observers, and the Ministry of Construction will again not bear any responsibility. It is obvious to the publication that the Ministry of Construction "has too many dishonest top managers who will soon" join "the Federal Agency for State Administration" Roskapstroy "and control the distribution of a trillion rubles."
However, it seems that no one will be able to distribute the trillion rubles as they please. To all appearances, the Kremlin intends to get serious about putting things in order in the estimated sphere. After all, the grandiose plans for infrastructure construction projects proclaimed by the Russian leadership, which can become the driver of the entire domestic economy, will require accounting for literally every ruble. And this is especially true today, during the crisis and sanctions.
We will continue to follow this topic and plan to publish an interview with one of the recognized experts on this issue in the near future.
Alexey ANDREEV
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