Chelyabinsk Region placed over 5 billion RUR worth of public contracts in the first half of 2007, First Deputy Head of Chelyabinsk Region’s Main Material Resources Administration Sergey Sushkov says. Mr. Sushkov reports over 550 auctions and about 2,000 quotation events took place in January-June 2007.

‘On average, one can save up to 10% off the market-average prices within the region when placing public contracts,’ he says.

‘It’s true that there may be some disagreements between a bidder and a customer, yet the number of these disagreements is limited. In fact, the claims do not exceed a mere 1% of the total worth of the contract.’