MOSCOW. Nov 20 (Interfax-AVN) - Requirements to be met by state defense order contractors will change in 2007 to facilitate an equal workload for all Russian defense enterprises, Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Monday.
"Changes will hold true for deadlines for signing contracts on research and development, deliveries, repairs, and scrapping of arms and materiel, disposal of chemical weapons, mobilization training, as well as tenders. Such timeframes will be reduced," Ivanov said at a meeting of the Defense Industry Commission in Moscow.
State defense order contractors will now have to complete the work within only two months. When the deadline expires, the Defense Industry Commission will be entitled to decide on redistributing the funds, allocated to unsigned contracts, to other spheres of the state armament program, Ivanov said.
State defense order contractors will also be for the first time entitled to sign long-term contracts on long-production-cycle products, envisioned by the state defense order, Ivanov said.
He emphasized that the current agenda was not limited to discussing the draft 2007 state defense order. It would also focus on setting defense product contract prices and improving the price-setting mechanism. "The two issues come together. The efficiency of the state defense order and its fulfillment directly depend on the price tag of defense products," Ivanov said.
He noted that given changes to the legislation, the current price-setting system did not meet the needs of the Russian Defense Ministry. The governmental decision on setting the initial cost of the contract and cooperation among contractors when conducting tenders will create new conditions for awarding the 2007 state defense order to contractors, Ivanov said.
He also noted that a civil federal supply agency would be established in 2007.
"At the same time, he noted that there were a number of problems in this field. "Improving the legislation in this field requires a comprehensive approach. Such problems should be dealt with in connection with problems pertaining to establishing, placing, funding, and fulfilling the defense order," Ivanov noted.
He said that the meeting would define the deadline for the work and develop the plan for the future.