The Market of Territorial Strategic Consulting in Russia in 2016-2018: Insider’s Notes

Abstract

The author describes the trends of the service market aimed at working out the strategies for ocioeconomic development of the federal entities and municipalities of Russia. Information on tenders for state and municipal contracts available in the Unified Procurement Information System has been analyzed. The period of 2016-2018 is characterized in detail: the volume of the market, key players, types of market behavior of participants are determined. The authr shows the segmentation of market from the supply side and from the demand side. The tendencies of domination and strengthening of monopolization from the largest state universities - RANEPA (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration) and Higher School of Economics are revealed. Due to the small size of the market, one large contract can be up to a quarter of the market volume, which accordingly makes its performer a dominant player. It is noted that the tactics of price dumping, as a rule, are unsuccessful. There are indications that most contests are held for a specific winner (a high proportion of “problem-based” contests - with cancellation or change of conditions; presence of companies winning all contests in which they participate, and companies with a high share of victories – over 75 %). The calculated indicators of market competitiveness (the average number of participants in the competition, the share of winners in the total number of participants, the average number of contracts per winner) show a reduction in competition in 2018. The author proposes recommendations on the formation of tender documentation, allowing to neutralize the pressure of the dominant and unscrupulous players, while maintaining quality control of bids.