Audit Finds Inefficient Spending by 'Ediny Zakazchik'
The Accounts Chamber conducted an audit of the efficiency of budget funds usage by PPC «Ediny Zakazchik» (United Customer) and identified significant violations. The inspection covered three facilities: the Conservatory in St. Petersburg, a surgery center building, and the Polytechnic Museum in Moscow. The report on the results was published on the agency«s website on 27 January.
«Taking into account the established criteria for efficiency audit, the use of federal budget funds allocated for financing the construction of facilities by PPC »Ediny Zakazchik« is assessed by the Accounts Chamber as insufficiently effective,»said auditor Natalya Trunova. Of the 61 facilities that the company managed from 2021 to 2024, only 43% were delivered on time. According to the auditors, this is due to insufficient control over the cost of materials and equipment purchased by contractors.
A striking example of irrational expenses was the purchase for the St. Petersburg Conservatory of a Steingraeber C-212 N PE concert grand piano for 26.7 million rubles (about $296,700 at current rates). A domestic equivalent, the «Mikhail Glinka T-274,» would have cost 7.9 million rubles (about $87,800 at current rates). The report stated that equipping training rooms with expensive professional instruments
«seems excessive and insufficiently justified from the point of view of economic efficiency.»
The press service of PPC «Ediny Zakazchik» noted that a significant part of the facilities transferred to the company are unique and complex.
«In most cases, for unfinished construction projects or long-term projects transferred to the company for implementation, there is a need for their redesign, and, as a consequence, adjustments to already approved design and estimate documentation from earlier years,»the company explained.
The Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatory in St. Petersburg was a long-term construction project for many years, where contractors changed regularly, and the condition of the building deteriorated. The situation changed after in 2020 Vladimir Putin drew senators« attention to this problem. The facility was transferred to PPC »Ediny Zakazchik,« and the general contractor became AO »Politekhstroi-Svargo.« The work was completed in 2025, and after ten years, music sounded in the building again. During the restoration and reconstruction, furniture, paintings, and musical instruments were restored, and the facade was returned to its historical shade. For the Rubinstein Hall, lost during the Soviet period, a special acoustic system was developed, and the educational institution was equipped with modern equipment.
