What gadgets: Rosstat spent 9 billion on 400 thousand unnecessary tablets
The Accounts Chamber criticized Rosstat for the fact that the service did not use the purchased tablets - out of the 400,000 gadgets purchased for 9 billion rubles, only 18,000 were used by employees, according to the auditors' report. Most of them are stored in factory packages in warehouses. At the same time, Rosstat notes that some of the tablets were transferred to other departments, including new regions, as well as Belgorod and Kursk regions. The problem is that such devices quickly become obsolete, and it is often difficult to install software on them that could be used for new purposes rather than those for which they were purchased. What could be the consequences for Rosstat - in the material "Izvestia".
Why does Rosstat need 400 thousand tablets?
In 2011-2020, Rosstat purchased 392 thousand tablets worth 9.2 billion rubles to conduct research (e.g., population census). As of September 2024, only 18 thousand of them had been used. The majority of them are stored in factory packages in warehouses. Such conclusions are given in the January report of the Accounts Chamber on the targeted use of budget funds for the purchase of property by Rosstat (Izvestiya has it). In response to a request from the editorial board, the auditors added that the agency also transferred 43,000 devices to other organizations.
The press service of Rosstat responded to the criticism of the SP by saying that about 60 thousand tablets on the Aurora OS, which were used for the census in 2020, are being transferred to other authorities.
- For example, they will be used in all regions of Russia to check electronic hunting tickets in accordance with changes in legislation in the field of hunting and conservation of hunting resources, which came into force on January 1, 2025, - said in the service.
Part of the tablets will be given to educational, social and charitable institutions, Rosstat emphasized. It added: the devices are also sent to the state agencies of new regions, Kursk and Belgorod regions.
Why Rosstat's tablets are gathering dust in the warehouse
The service purchased most of the tablets in 2020 from Rostelecom for the All-Russian census, the auditors noted. They added: their software does not allow the devices to be used for other purposes without updating the system - this requires additional financial expenses and makes it difficult to transfer the equipment to other authorities and organizations.
In addition, a significant part of the tablets are outdated due to the latest technical developments. So, for example, in 2016, the service purchased 20 thousand devices for 653 million. The report emphasizes: now they are unsuitable for further research, because they have a small amount of memory and the operating system Android version 4.0, which is not supported by most programs from 2017. In addition, the auditors admit that storing the tech for a long time without action could have led to malfunctions.
However, documents that will regulate the further use of tablets have not yet been developed. This may lead to the fact that by the next All-Russian census in 2031 the age of devices purchased in 2026 will already be more than three years. And it is not excluded that it will not be necessary to purchase the equipment again, emphasizes the SP.
According to the auditors, the reason for this situation is Rosstat's insufficiently systematic approach to equipment purchases. This leads to the accumulation of a large amount of unused property after the censuses are completed. In addition, the territorial bodies of the service (in particular, in St. Petersburg and Dagestan) do not write off obsolete equipment in a timely manner (i.e., do not remove it from the documents), which makes budget accounting inaccurate.
At the same time, the service planned to purchase another 102 thousand devices for almost 7 billion to prepare for the All-Russian Agricultural Census in 2027, the SP notes. Meanwhile, they were going to spend a total of 27.9 billion on this census (including the cost of persons to be hired, certificates, baseball caps, raincoats, and even dog repellent). However, the Federal State Statistics Service assured that the agency has no plans to buy new electronic devices, including for the agricultural census.
According to the auditors, Rosstat does not fully take into account the potential of existing information systems that could help to collect data, which would subsequently reduce procurement costs.
Consequences of inefficient use of state property
Maria Spiridonova, managing partner of Leges Bureau, explained that the situation with the tablets "hanging" in warehouses could have arisen because the devices run on a Russian operating system and are designed for a specific task - the population census, for which they were purchased. The possibility of installing third-party applications is not provided, and the development of additional utilities will require time and expense. In addition, the procedure for transferring the tablets is labor-intensive, which is why they were not given to other agencies in a timely manner, the expert believes.
Another reason is that tablets belong to depreciable property, the useful life of which is two or three years, which means that they should be written off after a while, said Natalia Bunina, special advisor on corporate issues of Pen & Paper. In addition, not all manufacturers support their devices for a long time, because of which, after several years, updates stop coming and equipment (especially budget equipment) becomes obsolete, she added.
- Thus, the use of equipment and its resale is difficult. At the same time, the reason for non-use of previously purchased equipment may be in the erroneous planning of purchases, including their unreasonableness, - emphasized the lawyer.
Who can be penalized for inefficient use of tablets
The Accounts Chamber can file a lawsuit in court or advise the prosecutor's office to do so, for example. However, its report says that so far the auditors recommend that the authorities only take a number of measures:
- instruct Rosstat, together with Rosimushchestvo, to assess the possibility of further use or write-off of tablets by December 2025;
- instruct the Ministry of Economic Development and Rosstat to work out by June 2025 the issue of using already available data and systems for the agricultural census;
- recommend to Rosimushchestvo to seize unused property from the territorial Rosstat of St. Petersburg by July 2025.
However, the non-use of equipment purchased with budget funds can be considered a violation, since the money was allocated for specific purposes, says Alexander Zelinko, a member of the Moscow branch of the Association of Lawyers of Russia. According to him, in this case it may be a case of inefficient spending.
If procurement violations are uncovered, the punishment for the service or individuals may vary depending on the circumstances, he continued. According to the expert, it could be reprimands or penalties for officials responsible for procurement. If facts of corruption, unjustified spending of budget funds or fraud are discovered, both officials and management are likely to be held criminally liable, Oleksandr Zelinko noted.
However, in response to Izvestia's question, the SP press service said that no violations were found in the procurement procedures of Rosstat itself. In this context, it is the inefficiency of such purchases that is being pointed out, the auditors explained.
- Russia has a number of shortcomings in the procurement of government agencies. There is often no transparency in competitions and tenders. Incomplete or inefficient internal procurement accounting leads to inappropriate spending. And due to insufficient research of the market situation and equipment requirements, unnecessary or outdated technologies are purchased," Oleksandr Zelinko listed.
There may also be other violations in public procurement, such as limiting access to bidding due to additional requirements for bidders. This makes it difficult or impossible to submit a bid, Natalya Bunina added. This creates preferential conditions for one of the contractors, and this may indicate collusion, she explained.
According to Alexander Zelinko, such violations may be related to illegal schemes, including purchases without competitive procedures or arrangements with a single contractor. If there are doubts about the legality of bidding, the actions of customers can be appealed to the FAS or law enforcement agencies, summarized Natalia Bunina.
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