FAS Russia postponed cases against companies of MRSK Holding

Октября 05, 2010

The Commission of the Federal Antimonopoly Service considered cases against companies included in MRSK Holding (“MRSK North Caucasus” OJSC, “Lenenrgo” OJSC, “MRSK Urals” OJSC, “MRSK North West” OJSC, “MRSK Siberia” OJSC, “MRSK Centre and Povolzhie” OJSC, “FGC UES” OJSC, “Tyumenenergo” OJSC, “Yantarenergo” OJSC, “MRSK Volga” OJSC and ”MOESK” OJSC).

Cases were initiated upon the signs of violating Article 17 and Part 1 Article 18 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition” in course of open tenders for the contract for insuring property (machines and equipment) from fire and other dangers and terrorism.
Grounds for opening cases: the above organizations specified such bid evaluation criteria in the tender documentation that created preferential conditions for a particular bidder.
According to the tender documentation, evaluation under the “contract price” criterion was discretionary: all insurers offered the contract price below 15% of the maximum contract price were allocated the same scores, which made it impossible to identify the best offer. The “service period” criterion was also evaluated discretionary.
Thus, the criterion of bidder’s qualification was decisive for tender outcomes.
At the same time, tender documents specified such sub-criteria of “bidder qualification” that could only be met by a single insurance company – “SOGAZ” OJSC.
The sub-criteria of “bidder qualification” set the following requirements: ratings Fitch (BB, Stable), S&P (BB, Stable), expert РА (А+ +), as well as quality certificate ISO 9001:2000 and size of the authorized capital at least three billion Rubles.
A FAS Russia’s Commission already investigated a case against “MRSK Centre” OJSC, a member of MRSK Holding, and found that the company violated Clause 2 Part 1 Article 17 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”. At that time the company created preferential conditions to a single insurance company participating in an open tender for the contract for insuring property (machines and equipment) from fire and other dangers and terrorism, which was contrary to the antimonopoly law.
The criteria for bid evaluations used by “MRSK Centre” OJSC were similar to evaluation criteria established in tender documentation of the companies – members of MRSK Holding and were drafted by “Atomny Strakhvoi Broker” OJSC.
“MRSK Centre” OJSC filed a lawsuit to Moscow Arbitration Court challenging the decisions of the antimonopoly body.
Governed by Clause 1 Part 3 Article 47 of the Federal Law “On Protection of Competition”, the FAS Russia’s Commission put on hold proceedings in the antimonopoly cases.