Is an effective partnership of the state and private business in the implementation of the state defense order possible?
The arguments of opponents of the development of the PPP system with the creation of a legal framework are based on the following thesis: if it comes to public-private partnership, then ultimately expect large-scale privatization of defense enterprises. And the word "privatization" from the beginning of 90-s in our country has acquired the equivalent of such terms as "theft" or "theft".
However, the authorities warn opponents of the idea of developing a public-private partnership system in the defense industry against hasty conclusions. In particular, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Government Dmitry Rogozin, in his interview with the journalists of the TV channel “Zvezda” and the radio station “Echo of Moscow”, said that in the development of the described PPP system, both the government and the business are interested parties. According to the Deputy Chairman of the Government and the Chairman of the Military-Industrial Commission under the Cabinet of Ministers, today he himself takes an active part in the work aimed at identifying the structures of private business that can use their potential to create military equipment and high-precision weapons. Dmitry Rogozin says that such work today is performed in a strictly individual manner under his (vice-premier) personal control. This should lead to the fact that some random companies, trying not to engage in real production business in the field of defense, and to have a hand in the funds allocated, can not appear in the system of public-private partnership. And frankly, I want to believe in it, because lately the system of theft, or, let's say, inappropriate spending of allocated funds, has managed to flourish in our country.
Dmitry Rogozin cites specific examples when private companies are already organizing the production of equipment that the Russian army needs. As such examples, the deputy chairman of the Russian government cites the work of several businessmen. Let us dwell on business representatives who are able, let's say, to promote the development of public-private partnership in the defense industry in Russia, as well as their work in this direction.
Vladimir Evtushenkov is the chairman of the board of directors of Sistema JSFC, a man who is one of 200’s richest people in Russia according to Forbes. Sistema JSFC is an industrial and financial group with a wide range of activities: from retail trade in children's goods and the provision of telephony and television broadcasting to investing in a dual (and, military, and civil) industry. Sistema JSFC is the main shareholder of SITRONICS JSC, which in turn invests funds, for example, in NIIME and Micron. Mikron plants specialize in the creation of Russian microelectronics, which today is actively used in a wide variety of domestic military equipment. In fact, OJSC NIIME and Micron is one of the models of public-private partnership in the structure of the military-industrial complex, since in addition to Vladimir Yevtushenkov’s company, the state owns a stake of shares (about 9,9%) through the Federal Property Management Agency.
Konstantin Nikolaev is an investor in Promtekhnologiya Group of Companies, the owner of N-trans, a company specializing in cargo transportation. His investments helped create a factory in Moscow for the production of high-precision full-cycle weapons. Today, the plant produces sniper rifles T-5000 "Orsis", which not the first year in a row allow Russian special forces to win at prestigious international competitions in sniper skills among military personnel and policemen.
Igor Kesaev is another Russian billionaire who is called the tobacco king of Russia due to the fact that Kesaev owns the company Mercury with its tobacco distributor Megapolis. Eight years ago, Kesayev acquired controlling stakes in such Russian enterprises as Degtyaryov Plant OJSC (Kovrov city) and the Kovrov Mechanical Plant. The latter was combined in 2006 with the Degtyarev plant. Today, the former KMZ produces centrifuges to enrich uranium. OJSC “Plant named after Degtyarev” manufactures products for both civilian and military needs. The quality of products for military needs can be noted such as the grenade launcher complex "RGS-50", anti-sabotage grenade launcher "DP-64", PAGK "AGS-30", as well as machine guns and sniper rifles. Dmitry Rogozin declares that the plant named after Degtyarev is one of the successful implementers of the state defense order. The company has managed to recommend itself, and therefore now negotiations are underway with Igor Kesayev about the possible creation of an experimental platform of the Advanced Research Fund on the subject of robotics on the basis of Degtyaryov Plant OJSC.
Dmitry Rogozin calls the name of Mikhail Gutseriev as a businessman who is ready to implement the program of public-private partnership. The personality of Gutseriev, of course, is not at all unequivocal, but here it should be noted that in Russia there is no such billionaire at all who would be perceived by the majority of the population exclusively on a positive wave
According to Rogozin, Gutseriev bought a controlling stake in the enterprise of OJSC MZ Arsenal (St. Petersburg). The main focus of this company is the production of space technology and naval artillery. Today, Gutseriev is among the 100 richest people in Russia with a fortune of approximately 7 billions of dollars.
On the one hand, the news that Russian billionaires are increasingly taking on enterprises working on the release of military equipment and small arms is alarming. Guards in connection with, say, the peculiarities of the mentality of the average Russian person. And these features suggest that if the country's defense capability passes into the power of “money bags”, then nothing good can be expected in the future.
But on the other hand, most of the above-mentioned industrial enterprises, unlike many that are strictly under state financing, have been showing their effectiveness for years now and do not appear in reports on the disruption of state defense orders. Accident? Hardly. Just a private owner, who has his own interest in marketing products to the state, understands the benefits of such cooperation, and therefore does everything to do the work with high efficiency. The system is very simple: the state enables such a company to do the work, and if the work is done efficiently and on time, then there will be other orders from the state, and therefore profit for the business. If a company breaks a job or provides a frank "hack," then the state has every right to refuse such cooperation.
Systemic punctures of the defense order begin where it is a question of large monopolists, which the state simply cannot get away from using production services, unless, of course, you remember the foreign option. But to buy weapons and military equipment for the Russian army abroad - from the evil one, there is no internal alternative to monopolists (for that they are monopolists), and therefore there are failures and frictions on prices, and frank delays in the implementation of orders.
It turns out that if the state manages to build a quality control system for private companies operating in the defense industry - for the needs of the Russian army, then the military segment of PPP in our country has a future. At the same time, the state should not confuse effective control over the work of such companies with frankly pressing a business, and business should understand that not only its own profits and the possibility of development, but also the increase in Russia's defense capability depend on the quality and transparency of its work. And here we cannot do without fine-tuning the interaction between government and business. And with such a setting, both one and the other is important not to start engaging in the blanketing of the “blanket”, and not to move on to options for arranging both parties affiliation. Let's hope that the fine tuning will be carried out "perfectly."
PS There are a lot of examples of effective public-private partnership in the defense industry in the world. Will we (Russia) be able to achieve efficiency in solving this problem?
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