The appeal of a Moscow regional entrepreneur about the inaction of the Moscow state budgetary entity on improper fulfillment of the municipal contract' terms, was considered by the Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Entrepreneurs in the Moscow Region.

The LLC company was fully paid the debt for the executed contract.

In October 2020, a civil law contract for the supply of lawn mowers was concluded between a limited liability company from the Odintsovo urban district of the Moscow Region and a state budgetary entity of one of the North - Eastern districts of Moscow. The terms of the contract determined the value of the contract, the amount of which amounted to a little more than 118 thousand rubles. 

The supplier fulfilled his duty in full, the goods were delivered of proper quality, on time, which was confirmed by the consignment note. The invoice for the delivered goods was issued by the supplier on the day of delivery. There were no objections to the supplier regarding the quality, quantity and range of goods from the customer.

According to the applicant, at the time of the preparation of the claim to the SBE (in January 2021), the delay in payment for the delivered goods was 67 days. By this time, the customer had not made any attempts to settle the issue of paying for the contract by concluding an agreement on payment by installments. 

The indignant applicant quite rightly made claims against the debtor, notified the debtor that he was planning to go to the arbitration court for the recovery of the principal debt under the contract, as well as forfeits for violation of the terms of the contract and court costs, including the lawyer's fee. To resolve this conflict, I had to turn to the Moscow city prosecutor”, said Vladimir Golovnev, the Moscow Region Business Ombudsman.

Based on the results of the prosecutor's inspection in connection with the violation of the requirements of the Federal Law dated 05.04.2013 No. 44-FZ "On the contract system in the field of procurement of goods, works, services to meet state and municipal needs", the interdistrict prosecutor's office made a submission to the head of the state budgetary entity. 

After the measures taken, the SBE found funds and the conflict was settled after the full payment of the amount recovered. 

“At the present time, we still have control over the fulfillment of obligations under one more municipal contract, which was concluded by the applicant. The situation is like a blueprint - a contract with the State Budgetary Institution of  Moscow district (in ZAO), the contract, the price of which was 245 thousand rubles, has not yet been paid", the Moscow Region Business Ombudsman said.

After a letter to the Moscow Prosecutor, combining both cases, the interdistrict prosecutor's office also issued a submission to the head of this state budgetary institution. Against the head of the State Budgetary Institution, who has not paid the debt under the contract to date, an administrative offense case has been initiated under Part 1 of Article 7.32.5 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation.

Recall that at the end of 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on fines of up to 100 thousand rubles for late payment of government contracts concluded with representatives of small and medium-sized businesses. Changes were made to article 7.32. and 23.83 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. The new law introduced liability for violation by the customer of the deadline for payment for goods, works, services under an agreement concluded as a result of a purchase with a small or medium-sized business. For officials, the fine is from 30 thousand to 50 thousand rubles, for legal entities - from 50 to 100 thousand rubles.