Estimation of costs in Russian public procurement system: case-study of Voronezh State University

The paper is focused on the problem of estimating costs which are incurred by customers, suppliers and regulators in the Russian system of public procurement. In this paper we adapted the methodology elaborated by PwC for research on 30 countries in European Commission in 2011 for Russian conditions. On this methodological basis we estimated procurement costs of one big Russian public customer - Voronezh state university (VSU). We showed that in absolute terms cost of procurement in VSU is comparable with average level in EU. However as a percentage of purchased goods and services cost of procurement in EU is 8 times lower. We explain the reasons for this large gap and formulate policy recommendations both for public customers and relevant authorities in the context of the Russian Federation.