Today we are starting a new rubric that will introduce you to our team and the specifics of the official ProZorro platform. This time, Dmitry Bayov, legal advisor of SmartTender, will talk about his way into the procurement world.

Most people think that the work of a legal expert is very boring and monotonous. Working with ProZorro purchases from the moment of their introduction, I can say that this representation is 100% erroneous. Almost every new day brings me some precedent, an unusual interpretation of the law or a whole detective story. Once I even had to “detect by IP-address” of the probable culprit of the recall of a complaint to the AMCU. Unfortunately, he prudently used the VPN.

Of course, there are the usual duties. Prozorro and the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade regularly publish an order to amend an order or an explanation letter. The task of the legal adviser is to explain to colleagues, organizers, and participants what exactly has changed and whether it has changed at all. You need to be able to translate from the official language into Ukrainian. But in the remaining work time in the SmartTender team, I constantly face challenges that make me get better.

«The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine considers the preparation of the tender proposal as art»

The Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine considers the preparation of the tender proposal as art. On the one hand, this means that a significant part of the documents is drawn up in an arbitrary form, and therefore there are no two identical in one purchase. Is that the participants conspired and wrote them together. On the other hand, the process needs to be approached creatively, to transcend oneself. Sometimes you have to stay at work until 10:00 pm in order to help the client on time and properly load the documents. The main thing is the result.

About Joining the SmartTender Team

I once found out that the SmartTender platform is looking for a legal adviser who has experience in procurement. By the time I was the second year involved in the preparation of tender proposals, and the year was engaged in the appeal of the results of many tenders. There were hundreds of complaints in my portfolio for which the AMCU increasingly made a positive decision.

My job negotiations were held in two stages. First, we discussed the prospects for the development of the project for the provision of legal services in procurement, agreed on the format and objectives. As early as the end of February 2019, I went to work with the main goal of helping the bidders on a daily basis.

«I believe that a specialist is a person who can do anything in his own direction»

The brightest impression from the first days of work is the confidence that I am creating a new product and service. Perhaps even pride in it. At first, I was a little worried that I first became part of a large IT team. It turned out that the company respects personal space. I also liked the fact that the team is young but experienced. I believe that a specialist is a person who can do anything in his field.

About the Future of Procurement System

Personally, I want to make our platform and the ProZorro system generally as comfortable as possible. Now everyone is waiting for changes in the Law of Ukraine "On public procurement." In my opinion, the most important thing is the return of money to the participant for consideration of the complaint to the AMCU in case of its satisfaction. Today in the bidding for the supply of goods or services, the payment is UAH 5,000, and for work – UAH 15,000.

It is very unpleasant for me when a participant loses money despite the validity of his appeal. For example, this happens in the case of cancellation of bidding. The state customer has the full right to terminate the purchase without any consequences for himself at any stage while the documents are not yet signed. Even after qualifying the winner. In the new edition of the Law, the payment will be a fixed percentage of the procurement budget, and therefore the contribution must be replaced with a pledge. I hope the changes will be accepted at least until the end of the year.

«The most important thing is the return of money to the participant after consideration of the complaint to the AMCU in case of its satisfaction»

Despite the good results of the implementation of the ProZorro system, there is still a lot to be changed. Participants lose their victories in tenders due to unobvious or ill-considered mechanisms. For example, if the organizer accidentally disqualifies someone, then this participant can be returned to trading only by contacting the AMCU. My job is to help circumvent such pitfalls, but I would like to optimize the process. To protect the interests of participants, I will work, share indicative cases and write appeals to authorized bodies.