Tender bread: how unscrupulous food organizers get into schools
In Irkutsk, the court sided with the food supplier in a dispute with the city administration. This is a continuation of the scandalous story when KrasPit, through a complaint to the Federal Antimonopoly Service, challenged its defeat in the competition and obtained recognition of the right to execute the contract. However, in fact, the company failed to organize meals, as employees were allegedly not allowed into schools. Izvestia investigated why children become hostages of auctions and why officials still have the opportunity to "hold" their companies, while unscrupulous suppliers get budget money.
Why were children left without food in Irkutsk
At the end of November, the Arbitration Court of the Irkutsk region found that purchases for the provision of nutrition services in the city's schools were carried out with violations. The court considered the claim of the city administration, which demanded to cancel the earlier decision of the Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service for the region.
We are talking about the purchase of about 400 million rubles for nutrition in 29 schools in Irkutsk. The competitive procedures were held in July. The municipal enterprise "Food Processing Plant" was chosen as the winner, and another application, from the Krasnoyarsk company "KrasPit", was rejected. But the company's representatives did not agree with the decision and complained to the FAS. The antimonopoly authorities supported the position of the Krasnoyarsk residents, forcing the administration to conclude a contract with KrasPit LLC.
The officials signed the papers, but filed a lawsuit in court to overturn the decision of the FAS.
KrasPit was supposed to start catering in schools on September 29, but was unable to do so. The school canteens did not open that day, and we even had to shorten the duration of lessons. KrasPit was unable to start work the next day, and meals in most educational institutions were set up by the Food Factory.
The KrasPit company stated that the company's employees were allegedly not allowed to enter the food halls by employees of the municipal enterprise that lost the auction. The media, citing a source close to the mayor's office, claimed that employees of the winning company were in the canteens, but simply did not start cooking.
Now the arbitration court has confirmed the correctness of the decision made by the FAS, and, accordingly, the legality of KrasPit's work in the city's schools.
Experts familiar with similar situations interviewed by Izvestia called the very situation strange when a Krasnoyarsk company starts catering in Irkutsk schools and, moreover, actually in the middle of the quarter. Until September 26, one organization fed the children, and on September 29, another organization was supposed to come to the cafeteria. They compared this situation to a "raider takeover": employees of a new company come to another region and confront both officials and the previous company with the fact — keep working, only now as a subcontractor, otherwise the children simply will not have any food.
Alexander Perfiliev, an expert in the field of government procurement, however, notes that the situation may look different: the customer could indeed prevent the supplier from fulfilling the contract, and after he did not start catering, seek to return the contract to the losing company.
Izvestia sent a request to the Irkutsk city administration.
How to make purchases in schools
Head of the Law Center.guru Alexander Evstashenkov explained that the supply of food for schools stands out among all other contractual procedures: there are more restrictions than usual.
— According to Federal Law No. 44-FZ, food products must be purchased by auction, where the supplier who offers the lowest price wins — this is the only evaluation criterion. An exception has been made for school meals: the customer can purchase products not only by auction, but also by competition," the expert explained to Izvestia.
In the latter case, non—monetary evaluation criteria come into play - the quality and qualifications of the supplier, said Alexander Evstashenkov.
According to him, 60% of the "weight" of the decision is given to the quality of the product and the supplier's qualifications when evaluating applications, while prices are only 40%.
Alexander Evstashenkov emphasizes that this way a balance is maintained between competition and the opportunity to lower the price at auction.
— FAS strictly ensures that customers, by setting non-cost criteria in the competition, achieve precisely the best quality of execution of the future contract, and not the choice of "their supplier". And the line in this matter is very thin," he stressed. — For example, how to evaluate the qualifications of a catering provider? The contractor previously provided catering services for university students. Is it possible to say that the supplier has the necessary qualifications to work in school canteens? FAS believes that yes, but not all customers agree with this position.
Evstashenkov calls the situation in Irkutsk a vivid example of this problem. No one disputed that KrasPit LLC has experience in providing catering services, but its former customer did not have an educational license. The Irkutsk Federal Antimonopoly Service considered that this experience was sufficient, but the customer did not agree with this.
— The main problem in the procurement of food for schools lies in the regulation of the procedure for evaluating applications in the competition. It can be solved by making amendments to the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated 31.12.2021 No. 2604, which strictly limits the discretion of the customer in terms of which contracts to accept for evaluation and which not, the expert believes.
Purchases can also be carried out under Law No. 223-FZ, if financing comes from extra-budgetary funds. KrasPit LLC previously participated in such auctions for catering in 16 schools in Krasnoyarsk, the contract amount was 180 million rubles. At that time, the company also applied to the territorial administration of the Federal Antimonopoly Service of Russia, having lost the competition. KrasPit appealed against the incorrect assessment and pointed out the family ties between the customer's employees and the head of the winning company. The Arbitration Court of the Krasnoyarsk Territory sided with the customer, considering that the communications did not affect the procedure, and the violations in the evaluation did not affect the final result, since the winner scored more points anyway.
Dumping is becoming another serious problem, even if the price criterion is greatly reduced when choosing a food supplier, says Valery Alekseev, head of the Investigation Bureau of the Popular Front. So far, this phenomenon in the field of food supply is possible in almost any part of the country.
Vladimir Chernigov, President of the Institute of Industrial Nutrition, noted that the requirements prescribed by the organizers in preparation for the competition are often already focused on a potential contractor. This is done so that it is possible to understand who exactly will come to the school canteens and definitely not disrupt the catering, because this is "like death," says the expert.
According to him, it is not very clear why KrasPit came to the Irkutsk region. According to the expert, this is a well-known company, but unfortunately it is known from different angles: in the spring of 2021, more than 100 schoolchildren in the Krasnoyarsk Territory fell ill with yersiniosis due to the fault of this company, which was then called Razvitie LLC. Large compensations were paid to the victims, and KrasPit LLC was liquidated and "repackaged" into another organization with the same name, but legally without a trail in the form of a scandal involving the poisoning of children.
Vladimir Chernigov calls the local Food Processing Plant a fairly strong organization, which, apparently, had no experience working in a fiercely competitive market environment: until 2025, such a company could receive a task from the city as an autonomous institution, and now it had to be incorporated and work on general terms.
How to change procurement procedures
According to Evgeny Lando, General Director of Contract Systems LLC, in the case of catering in Irkutsk schools, it is important for the regulatory authorities to carefully figure out who is really to blame for the disruption of the state order: an unscrupulous supplier or a customer who really "can block access to the facility for the winner."
He added that the fake procedure, which will allow officials to conduct "their" company, is convenient to do in the competitive procedure. However, Kraspit's experience has shown that even if the customer wants to see a certain company as a supplier, the system is designed in such a way that it can be challenged and force the customer to conclude a contract with the real winner.
Valery Alekseev from the Popular Front believes that the procurement procedure itself cannot be called the cause of problems with the appearance of unscrupulous suppliers in schools.
— The problem of the school catering industry is that control, document development and monitoring are virtually confined to one person — the school principal. He has been given maximum responsibility, but he has not been given any resources, personnel, or opportunities," Valery Alekseev told Izvestia.
So, the expert says, the director does not have the opportunity to check the quality of the delivered fish, if everything is in order according to the documents. And realizing that there will be no real control and sanctions for unfair work, some suppliers conclude contracts, underestimating the cost of products and services.
— In the same place, where product acceptance is organized centrally, at the municipal or regional level, there are noticeably fewer problems. But even the creation of centralized laboratories will not be able to close all vulnerabilities," notes Valery Alekseev.
Vladimir Chernigov noted that local authorities often simply do not have the competence to order catering services in schools competently and within the framework of the current legal framework.
— In ordinary municipalities, even large ones, these competencies are transferred to the educational authorities, — says the expert. — Subjects give money for food to municipalities, but who in district or small towns, especially rural municipalities, is an expert in competitive procurement? These are ordinary officials at the municipal level. It is necessary to change this particular upper structure.
Vladimir Chernigov insists on a radical change in the sphere of social nutrition, which should be brought into the field of special regulation. This is already being discussed: on November 17, the State Duma reviewed approaches to changing federal legislation in this area. Now they are going to hold a conference in St. Petersburg, which already has its own subject law on social nutrition and social nutrition management - the only executive state authority in Russia, which contains all the competencies on social nutrition.
— The Irkutsk case is a striking illustration of the lack of regulation of the upper legal structure in the sphere in which the state should be the final customer of social assistance to families through the nutrition of children in schools, — said Vladimir Chernigov.
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