The White House has reduced the maximum amount of security for the execution of state construction contracts – up to 20% for projects worth up to 1 billion rubles. and up to 15% for more “expensive” construction projects. The previous maximum collateral is 30%. The measure is designed to reduce the financial burden on construction companies – previously they complained about the high costs of servicing guarantees issued by banks. Builders welcome the lowering of the security threshold, but consider it insufficient.

The government approved a resolution reducing the amount of security for state contracts for the design and construction of facilities built at the expense of the federal budget. Let us clarify that the execution of such contracts can be ensured by depositing money into a special account specified by the customer or by a bank guarantee (the more common option). If the contract provides for advance payment with treasury support, the customer can independently set the amount of security – in the range from 0.5% to 30% of the contract price.

advance payment to the contractor. As noted in the government’s statement, this measure is aimed at improving the financial condition of the construction industry by reducing the excessive burden on them. establish the maximum amount of security (see “Kommersant” of August 19). Anton Glushkov, President of the association NOSTROY, explains that lowering the security limit will significantly reduce the costs of construction organizations to fulfill obligations to the customer, free up additional financial resources and direct them to the development of their business activities, and also reduce the required reserves of banks as they are released from obligations under guarantees. Rifat Garipov, head of the commission for project financing of the Public Council under the Ministry of Construction, agrees with him, noting that the measure will reduce the burden on contractors, which will speed up the execution of government construction contracts.

According to Anton Glushkov, for construction companies “any amount of additional security for one’s obligations is a financial burden,” since the guarantee essentially duplicates the security function of the compensation fund for securing contractual obligations in self-regulatory organizations (SROs). Earlier, business ombudsman Boris Titov drew attention to this problem – the volume of SRO funds is estimated at more than 100 billion rubles. (of which only 1.5 billion rubles were recovered), while contractors received bank guarantees for 842 billion rubles from July 1, 2017, paying 46 billion rubles for them. (see Kommersant dated June 4). In this regard, the Ministry of Construction, as TASS reported the other day, supports the reduction of payments for SRO members involved in public procurement. limiting the size of the security “will improve the situation, but only marginally”. He recalls that the customer has the right not to require security for the treasury execution of the contract, but does not use it, although the costs of securing the contract are not provided for in the estimate. “The reorganization of the contract system, which is the main real problem in the development of the construction industry, requires significantly more radical steps aimed at creating motivations for responsible, but also cost-effective behavior of market participants,” he says.