Improving Methods for Monitoring Competition in the Public Procurement Market

The relevance of the study is due to the high share of expenditures on state and municipal procurement in the structure of Russia’s GDP, on the one hand, and the need to improve the quality of monitoring of competition parameters in the public procurement market, on the other hand. The information systems and service solutions currently available on the IT market provide such an opportunity, which, according to the author, is not sufficiently used in the public sector at present. The purpose of the study is to substantiate the modern methodology for monitoring competition in the public procurement market, relevant to the level of scientific and technological development of computing power and infrastructure. The scientific novelty lies in the formation of a system for qualitative assessment of competition in the procurement market, based on the analysis of previously unused sections of information, allowing industry regulators to quickly receive signals about the presence of cartels and other forms of violation of competition. The problem solved in the article is aimed at improving support for procurement regulatory bodies to make management decisions regarding the ongoing territorial and sectoral policies, taking into account their material, technical and personnel support. To achieve this task, the results of previous studies of teams with the participation of the author are generalized and aggregated into a single two-level methodology, presented in the form of scientific and methodological recommendations for implementation by authorities. At the first level, the methodology can be applied by regional authorized bodies in the field of procurement and does not require special software; it is based on the use of a competition map implemented in Excel (any tabular database can be used). Second-level methods are focused on use by large analytical centers and divisions, are based on high-level visualization, and clearly “highlight” market anomalies. The introduction of such a methodology will increase the awareness of authorities about the situation in the context of regions and industries, identify or predict the occurrence of various anomalies, and improve the quality of work in countering cartel agreements.